Gundam MegaWing: What Lies Within
by Aynslesa
Summary: A.C. 229: Five years after the fall of Quietus, peace is shattered on a more personal level for the pilots. With the authorities close behind, Kenji and the others must find a way to clear themselves as they run for their lives, and are forced to relive t
1. Merry Christmas...Five Years Later

Dedicated to Teako and Azi: Ask and ye shall receive

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

_Now we've traveled far_

_But are we any nearer?_

_There's a feeling where we should fall_

_In the fields where it all began_

_Listen, do you hear? _

_I thought I heard a promise_

_But that empty feeling grows_

_And I'm scared that I will forget_

_But I, I can remember_

_Look around and around_

_There's people still hanging on_

_See it's me_

_I'm the one_

_Believe in me, I've just begun_

_And we'll be here when the lights come on_

_When it all comes down to _

_Me and you_

_Just a boy and girl_

_Trying to change a cold world_

_I don't expect that you'd understand_

_When you look at this empty land_

_But I, I can remember_

_Look around and around_

_There's people still hanging on_

_And I, I can remember them_

_Be it night or day_

_Like lovers left holding on_

_See it's me_

_I'm the one_

_Believe in me, I've just begun_

_And we'll be here when the lights come on_

_When it all comes down to _

_Me and you_

_(Holding on)_

_I, I can remember_

_Look around and around_

_There's people still hanging on_

_And I, I can remember them_

_Be it night or day_

_Like lovers left holding on_

_And I, I can remember_

_Look around and around_

_There's people still hanging on_

_And on, and on, and on, and on…_

_You keep me holding_

_And on, and on, and on, and on…_

_Like lovers left holding on_

**Chapter One: Merry Christmas…Five Years Later**

_L1****_

It was quiet. Very, very quiet. So quiet, one would be able to hear the proverbial pin drop if one listened close enough. Those living inside the house were cherishing the quiet of the early morning, all of them deciding that they'd probably sleep right through their alarm clocks and sleep until, oh, noon. 

Until…

"KEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNJJJJJJJJJJIIIIIIIIIIII!" 

"AHHHHHHH!" Kenji Lowe shot straight up as a small blur raced into the room and threw itself on top of him, bouncing up and down while screaming his name. Fortunately for the small blur, aptly named Race Lowe, his older brother had excellent reflexes and managed to recognize the chestnut-haired youth as _not being a threat to his immediate safety._

Just his immediate sleep, and, usually, his sanity. 

"You little devil, what are you doing up so early?" Kenji asked. 

Race crawled up onto Kenji's legs and looked at him with serious cobalt blue eyes. "It's Christmas!" 

Kenji glanced at the clock and saw that it read **5:30. "Hate to break it to you, kiddo, but Santa doesn't hit the Lowe house until later. Go back to sleep for awhile."**

"Nuh uh!" Race said, shaking his head. "I checked. The tree is _covered with presents!" _

"Hey, hey, Dad and Pops said you had to wait until everyone was up before you could check the tree!" Kenji said, but the twinkle in his eye just made Race give the undeniably charming 'Maxwell' grin - the weapon which no one, be it man, woman, or beast, could ever resist. Kenji sighed. "Okay, tell you what, squirt. You go downstairs and wait patiently on the couch - don't touch _anything - and I'll wake up the rest of the house."_

"I can do it!" Race said eagerly.

"Uh, no," Kenji said quickly, imagining the reactions the other three family members would have to Race's wake up call. "Just leave it to me, okay?"

"'Kay!" Race crawled off the bed and practically skipped out of the bedroom, humming an off-key version of 'Jingle Bells' to himself. 

Kenji stood up and stretched, glancing out the window as he did so. _The only thing about living on a colony, he thought, __is that there's no snow even during the winter. __I can't remember when the last time I saw snow was. His eyes fell on a bulletin board covered in pictures, and a smile graced his face. __Yeah, I can. _

The last time he had seen snow was five years ago, during a much deserved vacation. That had been before he'd decided to go to college on L1, before Race had been born, and before he'd started to move on from an incredibly hectic year. But he'd never forgotten.

Kenji Lowe, former pilot of the Neo-Gundam MegaWing, was now twenty-one years old. He was a senior in college, majoring in computers, and the middle child in a family of five. This hadn't always been the case - he'd actually been the oldest for about sixteen years of his life, until he'd discovered that there was a guy one year older than him who was practically his father, at least in genetics. Once the adoption papers had come through, he was officially the oldest child of the Lowe family. 

Speaking of which…

Kenji pulled on a shirt and a pair of sweatpants, then walked down to the a closed door several feet down the hallway. He didn't bother knocking - it wouldn't have done any good - and stepped inside to find said nii-chan fast asleep with his head shoved under his pillow. There was an electronic cord coming out from under the pillow, and Kenji picked it up to reach the volume control that was attached to it. "Yo, Noir. Wake up."

The pillow moved, and 22-year-old Noir Lowe sleepily looked up at him. "Thanks for nearly blasting my eardrums," he said as he sat up. 

"You're the easiest guy I know to wake up," Kenji said as he smirked at his adopted brother. Born Noir Date, the blue-haired young man had grown up in a science laboratory on the Mars Colony, never knowing that he'd never _actually been born to begin with. Noir was a clone of Kenji's father, Duo Maxwell-Lowe, and sometimes it was uncanny how alike the two of them were. _

Noir sat up and touched his ear, readjusting the small hearing aid inside of it. After spending the first seventeen years of his life deaf, he'd been eager to try and get some semblance of hearing into his life. Thanks to some experimental surgeries and devices that Noir's doctor, Iria Winner, had developed, he now had about 50% hearing back without the aid, and between 90% and 95% with it. "It's only…fifteen minutes to six?" Noir blinked and stared at Kenji. "Who are you and what have you done with Kenji?"

Kenji laughed - he was notorious for sleeping in on vacations. "Race," he said, shrugging. 

Noir nodded knowingly. He'd been subjugated to the younger Lowe's wake-ups a couple of times, although thankfully not that many since he didn't live there full-year. Most of the time, he was over on L2, where he worked with several lower-class families with special needs, counseling, and other sorts of things. Like Kenji, he came back for holidays - and that was just about it. 

"Dad and Pops are nuts to deal with that little rascal," he added as he got out of bed. "Speaking of which - who's going to wake them up?"

Both of them looked at each other warily. 

"I did it last time," Kenji said.

"Yeah, but I was traumatized the last time I did," Noir shot back. "_You may be used to their…extracurricular activities…but I'm straight, remember?" _

Kenji rolled his eyes. "You're also part of this family."

"You grew up with them," Noir responded. 

"Excuses, excuses." Kenji just shook his head. "Okay, fine. You go keep the demonchild company, and I'll go deal with the esteemed parents." 

"Deal." Noir quickly ran a brush through his short blue hair, then hurried out of the room before Kenji could change his mind. 

Kenji sighed. _The things I put up with, he thought as he trudged down to the other end of the hall. __Sometimes I really miss being an only child. He paused at the door, listening for any sounds from within - and were relieved to hear none. __They're fifty years old, and they act like their twenty._

He knocked on the door, then waited. After a few minutes, he knocked again. "Dad?" he called. "Pops? Wake up time." 

"Go away," came the muffled sound from inside. "Clocks go off at seven."

"Tell that to your kid," Kenji replied. "Race is already down by the tree."

"Great." There was the sound of blankets moving, then footsteps coming towards the door. It opened, and Duo Maxwell-Lowe stood framed in the doorway, his long brown hall hastily pulled back in a ponytail. "Give me a few minutes to wake your father up," he said. "And to wake myself up."

"Sure thing, Pops," Kenji said, grinning. "I'll just go put on the coffee, okay?"

"Deal." Duo stifled a yawn with his hand. "You know what, Kenji? Sometimes I think Heero and I were nuts to have another kid this late in the game."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't trade Race for anything in the world, right?"

"Right," Duo said, smiling and nodding. "I'll see you downstairs, kid." 

"Po-ops! I'm twenty-one!" Kenji complained. 

Duo sniffled and faked wiping away some tears. "My little baby's all grown up."

"Urusai," muttered Kenji. Then he smiled. "Merry Christmas, Pops."

"Yeah, yeah," Duo said, yawning again. "Tell me again when I'm awake. And when Heero's awake. You want to wake him?"

"Not in this lifetime!" Kenji said as he turned down the hallway and hurried down the stairs. He heard Duo mutter something else to himself, something that sounded suspiciously like '_smart-mouthed college kids', then the door close. _

At the foot of the stairs, Kenji glanced into the living room and saw Noir sitting on the floor while Race climbed all over him like a jungle gym as they argued about which present was for who based on its shape, size, and wrapping paper, all without looking at the labels. 

_Yup, Kenji thought as he passed the living room and went into the kitchen. __Sometimes I miss being an only child…but most of the time, I wouldn't trade this family for anything._

_L4_

"_Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost, nipping off your nose. Yultide carols, being flung in the fire…" _

"Father, how many times have I told you _not the sing Christmas carols?"_

Quatre Raberba Winner-Barton gave his only son a wounded look just before throwing a kitchen towel at him. "And why, exactly, shouldn't I?"

"Oh, maybe because you never get the words right?" 22-year-old Trente Winner-Barton asked, smirking. "It's 'nipping _at your nose' and 'being __sung by the fire'. Not whatever the heck you were coming up with." _

"Hmph. You used to get a kick out of it when you were younger," Quatre muttered indignantly as he turned back to the frying pan of eggs in front of him. 

"Point," Trente said mildly. "I was _younger." _

"Well, I think I do just fine, thank you," Quatre said, a smile forming on his face. "_They know that Santa's on his way. He's loaded lots of poison goodies on his sleigh…"_

Trente, who had just sampled the orange juice he had finished mixing, promptly spit it out across the kitchen table. He clutched the table edge and burst out laughing.

"Hello. I thought this was my kitchen, but I'm starting to think a madhouse moved in while I was sleeping."

Quatre walked over to his spouse and kissed his softly. "Merry Christmas," he said, grinning. "Don't mind us. Trente and I got up early to do breakfast."

Trowa wrapped an arm around Quatre's waist and sniffed the air. "Smells great," he said. "But then, your Christmas breakfasts always do." 

Trente rolled his eyes when his parents kissed again. "The juice is ready," he muttered. "I'll go out and set the table."

Trowa and Quatre watched him leave the room, then looked at each other. "How's he doing?"

"Another Christmas and no word?" Quatre sighed. "I keep telling him if he's so hung up on him, he should make the first move."

"Let me guess," Trowa said, brushing his bangs away from his eyes. "He doesn't take well to it?"

"He's got _both of our stubborn streaks," Quatre sighed. "Sometimes I just don't know what to do with him, Trowa."_

"I know, but he _is an adult," Trowa reminded him. "It's his problem to deal with."_

Out in the dining room, Trente had to restrain himself from telling his parents that he could hear every word that they said. Thankfully they changed the subject after that. _Thank you, Otousan, Trente told Trowa silently. Five years ago, it was something Quatre never would've let go of - the man had been a shoo-in for 'most overprotective' - but since marrying Trowa in 226, Quatre had relaxed considerably. They'd been very lucky to find each other again, his parents had been. _

He wondered if it'd be the same for him. 

Trente set a glass down with a sharp _click! on the table as he thought about his relationship with Kenji Lowe. The two had fallen in love - hard - five years earlier, during what those involved in the incident had dubbed The Quietus Conflict. Kenji had been the mysterious Zero System pilot, while Trente had been the no-name pilot the Neo-Gundam Heatseeker. They'd connected right from the start, but had somehow kept missing each other in the romance scheme of things until just before Quietus' defeat. _

After the fall of Quietus, Kenji had moved in with the Bartons and had continued to attend the prestigious Winner Academy, along with the other five Neo-Gundam pilots. During his two years there, Kenji and Trente had remained together. After graduation, however, Kenji had announced his plans to return to L1 to attend college and be closer to his family, and also to help out with his one-year-old brother Race. 

Trente had tried to argue with him, but Kenji was just as stubborn as he was. He'd suggested that Trente move to L1 with him, but the older man was already following in Quatre's footsteps in the Winner Corporation, and couldn't leave L4. They'd gone their separate ways, and had eventually lost touch with each other. 

Up until six months ago, Trente had been convinced that he was over Kenji…until he saw the young man on the news one day, in a report about the computer department over at the university. It was shortly before the fall semester would begin, and Kenji had agreed to take over the computer courses for a professor who had died unexpectedly and the school was having trouble replacing him. The interview was about how Kenji felt about being the youngest professor on staff, even though he was technically still a student, and Trente had been struck by how confident and poised Kenji had seemed…

It was then that he'd realized he was still madly in love with Kenji Lowe, and for the last six months all he'd been trying to do was get up the courage to contact him again. It was a sore subject between himself and Quatre, who knew all about Trente's feelings, but while Trente had no problem handling business negotiations and board meetings, dealing with his love life was another problem. 

Besides, it had been Kenji who had stopped writing…

Trente shook his head and set the last dish on the table. "How much longer?" he called to Quatre in the kitchen. 

"The eggs are just about ready!" Quatre called back. "Get in here and help me, would you?" 

Trente glanced once more at the table, and nodded. "Coming!" 

Trowa turned to his son as Trente walked back into the kitchen. "Save me," he pleaded. "He's starting to sing again!" 

Quatre frowned at both of them. "You two are impossible."

Trente and Trowa grinned at each other. "Yeah, but you love us anyway," Trente said. 

Quatre made a very rude gesture with his hand as he carried the plate of eggs out to the table. 

Trente looked at his father innocently. "Was it something I said?" 

_Lake Victoria…_

Wrapping paper flew around the room as a pair of hands tore open a package. "Oh, cool! A sword!" 

Mariemeia Kushrenada frowned at her father. "You gave him a _sword?" _

Treize shrugged nonchalantly as he pulled a piece of paper of his head. "He's a big boy. He can handle it."

20-year-old Treize Isaac Kushrenada grinned at his grandfather. "Thanks, Ojiisan," Isaac said, giving him a thumbs-up in approval. "At least _someone paid attention to my wish list."_

"You're twenty years old," his mother said to him. "Isn't it about time you stopped with those wish lists?"

"You can never grow out of Christmas," Isaac informed her. "Besides, you've still got some years to catch up on."

"You were only gone for about five years," Mariemeia said. "I've pretty much made up for them already." 

"Five years?" Isaac looked surprised. "It felt more like ten. They weren't exactly peaceful, Mother." 

"He's right," Sandra said from her seat next to him, nodding seriously. "Traumatic circumstances and all." 

"Take it up with your boss," Mariemeia said, rolling her eyes. "He put you through it."

"Quatre's not our boss anymore," Isaac said. "Right, Sandy?" 

"Right." 

Mariemeia glanced at Treize and Anne Une, who was sitting next to him, and groaned. "I give up. You two are just no match for me." 

Isaac and Sandra grinned at each other. It was remarkable how two people who had once tried to strangle each other verbally now seemed to always be thinking on the same wavelength. Five years earlier, Sandra had gone back to Mexico to live her with aunt, only to have her aunt die a year later. With nowhere to go, she'd tried to sign up with the Preventers even though she was a year younger than the age requirement. Instead of finding a job then, Treize and Anne had taken her in for some reason that they'd never revealed. Now Sandra was one of Lady Une's top lieutenants in the Preventers, and was happily working alongside several ex-Neo-OZ personnel. 

"Is Dorothy coming by later?" Sandra suddenly asked. 

Treize nodded. "She, Akira, and Yoshi are planning to spend the morning together, but yes, they'll be coming over for dinner." 

"Cool," Isaac said. Dorothy had been Isaac's confidant during his time with Neo-OZ, when he was under the guise of Isaac O'Reilly, pilot of Neo-Gundam Sparticus, and he'd remained close friends with his cousin since then. He'd been thrilled when Dorothy had married Akira Koto three years earlier, and ecstatic when their two-year-old son Yoshi had been born. The Kotos had lived in Japan until recently, when they had moved to Lake Victoria when both Akira and Dorothy had been transferred to Preventer Headquarters. 

The phone rang then, as Mariemeia was passing on of the wrapped presents to Sandra, and Une picked it up calmly. "Hello?" She smiled. "Oh, hi. Yes, I'll put him on." She handed the phone to Isaac. "It's for you."

Isaac took the phone from her. "Hello?"

_L5_

"Hey, you," Meila Fuang said teasingly. "Merry Christmas!" 

"_Mei! Merry Christmas! How are you?" _

"Oh, fine, fine," Meila said, twisting a lock of hair around her finger. "So when are you coming up to visit?"

"_I was thinking some time next month," Isaac said suggestively. "__I would've come sooner, but it hasn't been easy dividing my time between you and the Sanq Kingdom." _

"So how _is the Earth Sphere's youngest politician doing these days?" Meila asked, smiling. _

"_Oh, I'm fine," Isaac replied. "__But let me tell you - it's a lot tougher than it looks. Even when you've got people like Relena Dorilan on your side, it's still tough. And I'm not really a politician yet - technically, I'm just Relena's assistant." _

"Not for long, I bet," Meila replied. "Anyway, don't bring up that assistant bit when you visit - my parents get a kick out of telling their friends I'm engaged to a member of the Earth Sphere."

"_Is that the only thing they like about me?" Isaac asked, sounding wounded. _

"Well, it helps," Meila said truthfully. "But they've warmed to you after five years." 

"_They've gotten over the fact that I'm not Chinese?" asked Isaac. _

"Definitely," Meila said, nodding. "So, how's your Christmas been so far?"

In the middle of Isaac's enthusiastic description about the sword he had just received from his grandfather, Mrs. Fuang came into the room and motioned to Meila. "Hold on a sec, Isaac." She covered the receiver and looked at her mother. 

"Our guests have arrived," Mrs. Fuang said in Chinese. "Come." 

"Give me a minute." Meila turned back to the receiver. "Sorry, Isaac, I've got to go. Call me tomorrow, okay? That way we don't get my parents mad about the long-distance. The Changs just arrived." 

"_Say hi to Wufei and Sally for me," Isaac said. "__Lova ya."_

"Love you, too," Meila said. She pressed the OFF button on the cell phone and sat it down, sighing as she did so.

"Something wrong?"

Meila looked up to see her mentor, Wufei Chang, standing in the entranceway to the room. "Hey," she said, smiling. She got up and walked over to him, giving him a quick hug before stepping back and sighing. "Yeah, a little."

Wufei arched an eyebrow and looked at her pointedly. 

"Sometimes it's hard, living this far from Isaac," Meila confessed. "We've been engaged for almost two years now, but we haven't even discussed a wedding."

"But you see each other on a regular basis, don't you?" Wufei asked

"At least once a month," Meila replied. "And I'm usually fine with that. But after getting to be with him day in and day out during the Quietus Conflict, and then while finishing up school at the Academy, sometimes I just get to wishing for that again, you know?"

"I do," Wufei said, nodding. "You know, the year after Sally and I got married we didn't see each other at _all. We didn't even get a chance to take our honeymoon until our third anniversary. We were always stationed in different places, and I was dealing with Cindy as well - it always seemed as if our paths would never cross, even though we were husband and wife. But eventually things settled down, and everything got to be the way it was supposed to be. It'll work out for you and Isaac as well. It's would be just if it didn't." _

Meila smiled ruefully. "And everything must abide by a code of justice, right?"

"Right," Wufei said with conviction. "Now come on. Sally and I brought a few more gifts for your family, and there's a certain five-year-old who's dying to see her surrogate sister." 

Meila's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Really," Wufei replied. "Lotus adores you, Meila. Just make sure you live up to her expectations, got it?" 

"Yes, sir!" 

_Sanq Kingdom_

Cynthia Marquise groaned as her 21-year-old cousin, Katrina Lafavour, launched into yet another description of a ball she had recently attended in Paris. While Katrina _looked like a younger version of her mother, Relena Dorilan, she was __nothing like her in personality._

"And oh, there some truly _gorgeous men there," Katrina gushed to Cindy, unaware that the 22-year-old was only half paying attention. "But still, none of them held a candle to my Kenji."_

Cindy winced inwardly. _Oh, Katrina, if you only knew…_

"Katrina, don't you think it's a little rude to be talking like that at the table?" Relena interjected brusquely. "Besides which, you've already gone other the ball several times. I'm sure Cindy has some things she'd like to share with you." 

"Daddy doesn't think it's rude," Katrina said in a sickeningly sweet voice. 

"Her point exactly," Cindy muttered under her breath. Hilde Schbieker and Rasheed Muhammed stifled laughs and wound up faking coughing fist to cover up their slips. Relena shot Cindy a warning look, which turned sympathetic to minute Katrina glanced over at the two bodyguards with an expression of 'what is wrong with them?' on her face. It was a firm agreement among the Dorilan household that Katrina, who had been raised almost entirely by her father - Relena's ex-husband -, was the biggest spoiled brat in the world. And she had only gotten worse with age. 

Katrina sighed and turned to Cindy, acting like she was doing her the world's biggest favor. "Very well, Cynthia," she said with painstaking patience. "What sort of things have _you been doing lately?"_

"Oh, this and that," Cindy said, grimacing inwardly at the use of her full name. "Working in the Sanq Kingdom's legal department is certainly an adventure. I never realized the law could be so exciting."

"I'm sure," Katrina said, glancing at her nails.

Cindy ignored her. She knew she could never get Katrina to understand how much the law really meant to her. While Cindy had been one of the best agents the Preventers had had, after graduation she'd taken up a part-time job with the judicial office in the Sanq Kingdom. She'd fallen in love with the judicial system and was now in her first year of law school, having graduated college with honors the year before. 

Katrina, sensing Cindy's silence, began another stream of chatter about the ball, this time comparing each of her dance partner's skill to Kenji's, when - much to the delight of Relena, Hilde, Rasheed, and Cindy - breakfast was brought in. 

_Even though Katrina is__ a simpering idiot, she's still family, Cindy thought as she dug into her meal. __And I'm lucky just to have a family. "Hey, Katrina?"_

"Yes?"

"Merry Christmas."

Katrina looked at her cousin, slightly startled. "Merry Christmas," she said, a slight tremulous smile on her face. 

Cindy offered one back, calling a truce for the day. _I think I'll keep them. _

_Thwak!_

A knife pierced the paper-covered wall suddenly, the puncture sound of the blade echoing in the large room. The thrower of the knife stood up and pulled it out, removing it from the picture it was embedded in. 

"Having fun?"

He turned to look at her, a smirk on his face. "Immensely," he said. "Although throwing it at their pictures isn't nearly as satisfying as it would be to throw it at them in person."

"Patience, my friend, patience." She turned her chair towards him and leaned against her desk. "We've waited five years - we just have to wait a little more."

"I don't see _why we had to wait this long," he grumbled as he lobbed the knife at the wall again. "You knew the information to begin with."_

"Yes, but you see, we can't let them know that," she replied. "It has to look as if we just uncovered the information in an investigation. The citizens love investigations - it makes everything seem so truthful and law-abiding. It's the best way to win their support." 

"I suppose you have a point." He removed the knife again, and hurled it at the way a third time. "But if we do things legally, I won't get to have any fun."

"Oh, you'll have fun," she promised. "After all, once the first wave occurs, you'll get to track the others down. Won't that be fun?"

A smile formed on his face. "Oh, I bet it will." _Thunk! Another bulls-eye - right in the middle of a smiling face on the wall. _

The woman looked at the punctured picture, and an expression not unlike a snarl formed on her face. "Those bastards ruined everything," she whispered. "But they haven't seen the last of us. They thought Quietus was confined only to the Mars Base - just wait until they find out the truth."

"It's not going to come out to a battle, is it?" the man asked, flipping the knife in mid-air and catching it by the blade. He didn't flinch at all when the blade bit into his skin and blood trickled down his palm. He merely took the knife in his other hand, then raised his cut palm to his mouth and ran his tongue along the slit. "We don't have the Cyclones."

"And they don't have the Neo-Gundams," replied the woman. "They won't get a chance to get them back, either. Sealing them in Peacemillion Two was the stupidest move they ever made, considering how often that ship runs between Earth and Mars. By the time it gets back into Earthspace, we'll have them. Just be sure that your team is ready to go when I give the commands. Understood?"

The man smiled dangerously. "Oh, I understand. I understand _perfectly!" He spun around and shot several knives at the wall at once. _

The woman watched them hit their marks with contentment. _Eleven knives for eleven pilots, she thought. __The knives hit their marks - and so will I. _


	2. Arrested!

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Two: Arrested!**

"_VROOOOOOMMMM! Beep, Beep! VROOOOOOMMMMM!"_

_CRASH!_

Kenji flinched as the sound of breaking glass echoed through the downstairs floor of the Lowe home, his fingers pressing down of the computer keyboard - and promptly deleted everything he'd just spent that last half hour working on.

"K'so!" he shouted. "RACE!" 

"What?" 

Kenji turned around in his chair to see Race standing near the stairs, looking as innocent as an angel. His brother knew better. "I thought I told you that I needed _quiet while I was working," Kenji said through clenched teeth. "You parading around the house with your toy trucks is not exactly peace and quiet! Now what did you break this time?" _

"…Nothing." 

Kenji narrowed his eyes at him. 

Tears welled up in Race's eyes. "I didn't mean to, nii-chan! Honest!" 

"Show me." Kenji stood up and followed Race out of the family room and into the dining room - only to find a box of photographs spilled on the ground, and a broken vase next to them.

A vase that had been holding, apparently, a lot of water. 

"Uh, oh," Kenji said, darting forward and scooping up the pictures, half of which were well on their way to being soaked. "Race, go get Noir and tell him I need help. We've got to get these things dried out before Dad and Pops get home!" 

Race nodded and hurried out of the room. Kenji cleared off the dining room table and spread the soggy pictures out to get a good look at them. They were pictures that hadn't yet made it into photo albums, ranging from the last couple of months to about five years ago. _Wouldn't you know it, the doubles and negatives were in that box, too. "They're going to kill us," groaned Kenji._

"I didn't do anything," Noir said as he walked into the room. He stopped when he saw the photo mess and the water on the floor, and whistled softly. "Oh, boy. Race outdid himself this time. You think he means to destroy everything in his path, or is it an accident?"

"I don't think he does it on purpose," Kenji said. "Do me a favor and clean up that water, would you? I've got to figure out which of this stuff is savable and which is a lost cause." 

Noir nodded and disappeared into the kitchen.

Kenji sighed and began going through the photographs, and after a few minutes was relieved to find that the water damage wasn't as bad as he'd initially imagined. A few more minutes went by, and Noir joined him at the table to help, followed by Race - who had apparently decided that it was safe to come out of his room now and help his big brothers. The three of them separated the good from the bad, but also found that it was easy to get sidetracked while doing something like this.

"Hey, Race, here's the picture of you when Dad and Pops brought you home," Noir said, pointing at one picture.

"Who's the pretty lady?" Race wanted to know.

"That's Aunt Hilde," Kenji said. "She's your surrogate mother."

"My surro-what?" 

"It means that she's sort of a Mom-fill-in," Noir improvised. "She's also Kenji's surrogate mother." 

"I don't 'member her," Race said. 

"She's the one who sends you those model kits from  Earth," Kenji replied. "You'll probably meet her someday." 

"Neat," Race said. He leaned over the table and picked up another picture. "Who's he, nii-chan?"

Kenji looked at the picture…and felt his heart stop for a second. _Trente… It was a picture of himself and Trente, their arms around each other's shoulders, grinning at the camera. It had been taken just a few days before Kenji had left L4 to start college…one of the last times he had actually physically laid eyes on Trente. _

Kenji clenched his jaw and took the picture from Race. "An old classmate of mine," he said stiffly, not meeting Noir's surprised gaze. 

"Will I get to meet him, too?" Race asked innocently.

"Probably not," Kenji replied. He stepped back from the table and ran his fingers through his hair. "I need to get back to work. You two finish up here." He turned away from the table and headed out of the dining room  to salvage what he could from his computer. 

Race looked after his big brother, then looked at his other brother. Noir was staring after Kenji, and unreadable expression on his face. "What's wrong?" Race asked.

"Race, go into the other room and watch TV for awhile," Noir said. "I need to talk to Kenji." 

"'Kay!" Race hurried away from the table and practically sprinted into the family room. 

Noir walked into the living room and leaned against the doorway. "Something on your mind?" he asked Kenji, who was sitting with his back towards him.

Kenji typed furiously. "No," he said shortly, his eyes glued to the computer screen.

"What happened between you and Trente, Ken?" Noir asked softly. "You two were perfect together…what happened? I know you broke up, but I never understand the reasoning behind it."

"We just drifted apart," Kenji said, his voice hard. "He stopped writing, and we never got a chance to connect over the phone, and that was that."

"Did you keep writing?" Noir asked.

"For awhile," Kenji said. "But after the fifth unanswered letter, I stopped. I guess he just couldn't deal with not having someone there twenty-four/seven."

_That doesn't sound like the Trente I __know, Noir thought, frowning slightly. Then again, he hadn't seen any of the other pilots aside from Kenji in, oh, about three years. Once they'd all graduated and gone their separate ways, their friendships had dimmed as well. He and Kenji got the occasional letter from Isaac or Cindy, but that was about it. Noir had been expecting it, and it didn't make him think any less of the others - after all, Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei had still managed to stay friends after being out of touch for almost twenty years! _

Although, come to think of it, Heero and Duo hadn't heard much from _them, either…_

"Hey!" Race suddenly shouted. "Daddy and Poppa are on the TV!"  

Kenji spun around in his chair and looked at Noir. "Where were they going today?" he asked.

"Just to do some errands," Noir said, already heading for the family room. "Post-Christmas Pre-New Years shopping for the party on Saturday." 

The two men walked into the family room and stood behind Race, their eyes glued to the television screen. A commercial for cat food was playing. Race looked at them. "They said, 'coming up next'," he said.

"You're watching the news?" Noir asked questionably when the program came back on.

"Race, for some reason, loves it," replied Kenji. "He's always -" 

"Shhh!" Race said, pointing at the screen. "Listen, listen!" 

They listened. 

"_One hour ago, the Earth Sphere Alliance Court System issued an All-Points Bulletin for several people," the anchorwoman said in a brisk, business-like tone. "__The charges, apparently, are war crimes against humanity and also during a time of peace. Just a few minutes ago, two of these suspects were arrested on L1." _

The screen changed to a scene outside a mall complex a few miles from the Lowe house, where police were leading two men outside. The camera from the overhead helicopter zoomed in, and Kenji knew there was no mistaking who they were when he saw the long braid on one of them. He looked at Noir, who was staring, wide-eyed, at the television. Even Race was quiet.

"_The two, Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell, will be taken into the Earth Sphere's custody and sent to Earth, where it is rumored that they will stand trial for crimes they committed thirty-five years ago, during the War against OZ, and also for incidents pertaining to five__ years ago. The Earth Sphere has yet to announce what those incidents are."_

"My God," Kenji whispered. "They found out about Neo-OZ."

Noir was already dialing on the phone. "I'm calling L4."

"There's more!" Race suddenly piped up. 

Noir paused while the phone was ringing, and turned towards the television once more. 

"_The following people are also being sought after by the government: Quatre Raberba Winner. Trowa Barton. Wufei Chang. Relena Dorilan. Hilde Schbieker. Dorothy Catalonia. Akira Koto. Annette Une. Catherine Bloom and Mariemeia Kushrenada. The Earth Sphere has requested all help in apprehending the suspects, and has also asked that it be mentioned that this is only a partial__ list. It will be updated as more information is obtained. We'll keep you posted." _

Noir and Kenji looked at each other. "They don't know about us," Noir said. 

"Not yet," Kenji replied. 

Suddenly the phone picked up on the other end. "_Hello?" _

Noir immediately lowered his voice. "Hello, yes," he said hurriedly. "I'd like to speak to Quatre Winner-Barton immediately."

"_That's impossible," the dejected and stunned voice said on the other end. "__My father was just arrested."_

Noir drew in a sharp breath. He hadn't recognized the voice at first. "Trente?"

"Lady Une, we've got a situation." 

Une tapped her fingers against her desk impatiently. "I _know that, Townsend! Can anybody tell me __why we've got a situation?"_

Captain Ashleigh Townsend shook her head, looking like she wanted to be anywhere but where she was. "We've got all of the Preventers on the case - but it's getting harder and harder. Within the last hour, five more of us have been put on that A.P.B, and the Earth Sphere is showing no signs of stopping."

"What are the similarities?" Une demanded, looking around the room. 

"Every person on the list was involved in the Quietus incident," Townsend reported. "And most of the Preventers showing up were under Neo-OZ's payroll." 

"Damn," Une growled, sitting back in her chair. "This situation doesn't look good. Have you tried contacting the Winner Corporation Headquarters?" 

"I did," another Preventer, Griffen Burke, replied. "No luck. Quatre Winner and Trowa Barton were arrested outside the headquarters shortly after Yuy and Maxwell were picked up." 

The door opened, and Mariemeia hurried in. "Anne? If we're going to go, we need to go now. We just got the word that the Earth Sphere secured the warrants to search the base, which means you and I and everyone else on that list need to be gone."

Lady Une stood up and began shoving files into her briefcase. "Is the helicopter ready?"

"Ready and waiting," Mariemeia replied. "It's a lucky thing that Ms. Dorilan never sold her brother's estate, though, isn't it?"

"Lucky, indeed," Une muttered. She turned to Townsend. "Keep things under control here until we get a secure line set up at the Marquise Estate, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Townsend and Burke saluted her sharply, and Une left her office with her adopted niece. 

"How long is it going to take us to get there?" Mariemeia asked worriedly. 

"We'll have time," Une replied. "Normally I wouldn't dare think about running from the law - but this smells rotten to me. Something is going on here. _Nobody should know about Quietus, yet things keep falling back to that. Did you contact home?"_

"Yes," Mariemeia said. "Father, Dorothy, and Akira are going to meet us there, but Isaac wants to go to L5. Wufei and Sally were still staying with Meila's family…and there's been no word on them yet." 

"Okay," Une said, nodding. "Once we're secure, though, you know what we have to do. We've got to find the rest of those kids and get them to the safehouse immediately. It's only going to be a matter of time before they find themselves on the list, and we want them safe and secure before them." 

"That's going to be a problem," Mariemeia said. 

Une looked at her. "Why?"

"Well, according to Relena, Cindy is absolutely refusing to go into hiding. Sandra's heading for the Sanq Kingdom to stay with her, and nobody can reach either Trente or Kenji and Noir," Mariemeia replied.  

Une bit her lip hard enough that she drew blood. "We have to find them." 

"Once we're in the safe house, I'll put out some calls," Mariemeia promised. 

"What about the others?" 

They reached the helipad and climbed into the waiting helicopter. Mariemeia buckled herself in across from Lady Une, and waited until the doors were shut and the chopper was rising into the air before continuing. 

"Catherine is in France with her circus troupe, but I don't think the authorities know that yet," she said. "Hilde and Rasheed made contact a few minutes ago assuring me that Relena is currently in a safe place, and that they'll try to make it to the estate as soon as the first opportunity arises." 

"Where do you think they are?" Une asked. 

"Relena had some thinks to take care of in the Middle East…my guess is that they've holed up with the Maguanac Corps. Rasheed stills has ties in that area, even though he left the Corps years ago to work for Quatre." Mariemeia fidgeted in her seat and reached up to touch the short strands of red hair framing her face. "The Earth Sphere is wiping out the Preventers…more than half of us have ties to Neo-OZ and the Quietus Conflict." 

Lady Une nodded and waited. 

Mariemeia slammed her fist down on the seat cushion next to her. "How could this have happened?!" she spat. "How could the Earth Sphere have gotten access to this information? We did everything humanely possible to keep the civilian population out of this!" 

"Sometimes no matter how hard you try, things like this always seem to blow up in your face," Une murmured. "The information was there, but only if someone knew where to look."

Mariemeia stopped her rage and looked at her adopted mother. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Someone had to know about Neo-OZ in order to find the information," Une said, looking out the window of the helicopter. "The question is, how would they have known about Neo-OZ? And how would they have known where to look for the information?"

"Do you know something?" Mariemeia asked. "Or at least suspect."

Une reached into her briefcase lying at her feet, and removed a file folder. "I received this a week ago, shortly after Christmas." 

Mariemeia took the folder and opened it, looking at the first page. Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes widened. "He knew?"

"He suspected," Une said. "A month ago, someone tried hacking into the Winner Corporation database. Quatre had Isaac completely redesign the system shortly before, so nothing damaging was discovered in the attempt, but it got him suspicious. He began to go through the old files, comparing them to the new system, and discovered that the hacker had been trying to get access to the location of the Neo-OZ information still on file. Fortunately, Isaac had backed it up and put it on a different computer…but it was enough to make Quatre nervous.

"When he checked the other securities that he had set up, he discovered that someone had been through or had tried to access each of them. The information total wasn't enough to truly incriminate many people, but he warned me about it anyway. I don't think he imagined that it could grow to be like this, though." Une shook her head ruefully. "Same old Quatre. Deep down inside, he'll always be the Commander-In-Chief of Neo-OZ." 

"So he was prepared for this?" Mariemeia asked. 

"Most likely," Une said. She turned to look at the younger woman, her eyes dark with worry. "The only problem is, he wasn't expecting something to happen so soon. He was going to set up a meeting with me in person to share his fears and insights - he didn't want to risk them on paper and falling into the wrong hands - but he was arrested before he could. I think Quatre knows something about who's behind this - but so long as the Earth Sphere has him, there's nothing he can do." 

Mariemeia sighed. "So we've got nothing."

"Not nothing," Une said. "We have information. We just have to connect the dots. Something about that information tipped Quatre off - now we've got to figure out what." 


	3. Destination: L4-XX103

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Three: Destination: L4-XX103**

"_Last boarding call for Shuttle 260 bound for Lagrange 4-XX103, Winner Space Port. Last boarding call…" _

"Would you hurry up?" Noir called over his shoulder. "Slowpokes. We're going to miss it!" 

Kenji hurried up behind him and pressed himself against the wall. "Have you done this before?" he hissed at Noir. 

"When I was younger," Noir replied. "See, this door here leads to the loading area in the shuttle. It's the only part of the shuttle that isn't outside, so we don't even need flight suits. We can go in through the loading bay, and no one will even know we're there." 

"Why can't we just sit with the people?" Race asked, peeking out from inside Kenji's coat. 

"I still think we shouldn't bring him," Noir muttered.

"Oh, yeah? And what are we going to do with him?" Kenji shot back. "Everyone we could send him to stay with is either on the run or has been arrested!" 

Noir muttered something intelligible under his breath, then knelt beside the door they were in front of and tapped at the security lock. A few well-placed codes, and the door slid open easily. 

The loading bay was abandoned save one shuttle port worker, who was busy talking on the phone. Distantly they heard the final last boarding call warning, and the three wasted no time in sneaking aboard the shuttle. 

The inside of the shuttle was filled with luggage, but Noir had obviously had experience with this sort of thing, and led then towards the back of the craft, away from the main doors of the cargo hold. He shoved a few suitcases around, creating an interesting little room/barrier for them to sit in. Then he unbuckled some luggage straps and handed two to Kenji. "Copy me," he said. 

Noir stood up and looped his strap around a pole leaning up against the wall, then wrapped the other end around his waist. He tied the two ends together, connected him to the pole, then leaned back and braced himself against the wall. 

Kenji watched closely, then followed the example, making sure that Race was secure before doing his own. "I take it this is so we don't go flying during takeoff?" 

"Pretty much," Noir agreed. "It'd be even worse if we were in an airplane, though - shuttles take off either straight or vertical, so it's not as bad. But it can still pack a nasty punch if you're not prepared for it." 

At that precise moment, the sound of the shuttle engines firing up made them all fall silent. Race whimpered softly and gripped Kenji's hand tightly, and Kenji was once again reminded that his little brother was really too young to have to go through this. If he could have left him in a safe place on L1, he would've, but there really was no one that he could trust with the boy. Especially since they didn't know why Duo and Heero had been arrested - or Trowa and Quatre, for that matter. 

Kenji sighed and closed his eyes, thinking back to the phone call the day before. 

_"Trente?" Noir looked at Kenji, stunned. "My God - you sound horrible! I didn't even recognize your voice at first!"_

_"I just watched my parents get arrested," Trente replied dully. "How do you think__ I'd sound?"_

_Noir looked over at Kenji, who had looked like he was about to bolt the minute he'd heard who was on the other line, and gave him the iciest 'you stay right where you are, young man' look he could manage. "Trente, I'm going to patch through to the vidphone, okay? Can you get to one?"_

_"Give me a minute."_

_Noir used that minute to boot up their own vidlink, and true to his word, Trente's face appeared on it a minute later. Both Noir and Kenji were shocked at how pale and drawn he looked, but they couldn't really blame him - they probably looked just as bad. _

_"What's going on, Trente?" Noir asked, leaning back in the chair in front of the screen. "What's with this arresting thing?"_

_"Your guess is as good as mine," Trente said wearily. "It obviously has to do with Neo-OZ, and I suspect with the Eve Wars. The thing that confuses the hell out of me is why none of us__ were implicated in this."_

_"It's only a matter of time," Kenji said, making sure to stay out of sight of the screen. He wasn't ready for Trente to see him yet._

_Trente tensed, and Noir glanced over at Kenji nervously. There was silence for a little while, until Trente finally broke it. "Since we don't know what's going on, I think the safest thing we can do right now is stick together. I'm going to see if I can connect with Isaac, Meila, Cindy, and Sandra - can you make it here, to Headquarters?"_

_Noir turned in his chair and looked at Kenji questionably. Kenji bit his lip, and glanced down at Race, who was listening to the entire thing quietly. Noir turned back to the screen. _

_"We have a slight complication," Noir said. "Race."_

_"Race…oh, yeah. Your younger brother." Trente tapped his fingers thoughtfully against the desktop. "Is there anyone you can send him to?"_

_"No one," Kenji said. "Usually Noir or I take care of him when Dad and Pops are off the colony, and I wouldn't feel comfortable sending him to the neighbors. We don't know who's behind this, and the last thing I want is for Race to somehow end up being used against my parents." _

_"He's right," Noir agreed. "There really isn't anything we can do except keep him with us."_

_Trente sighed. "All right, then. You don't have any other options. I'll be here, waiting for you to arrive. Don't come in to Headquarters through the Winner Corporation Building - use the street entrance near the Academy." He glanced over his shoulders. "The police are coming to talk to me - I can't let them hear this. If I'm not there when you arrive, wait for me." _

_Trente's face vanished instantly, and Noir and Kenji looked at each other. _

_They were going back._

_Going back, thought Kenji. __It's been five years since I was in the Neo-OZ Headquarters. Even though he'd lived on L4 until he was eighteen, he hadn't had any reason to go to the underground base of operations after the Quietus Conflict had been taken care of. With the Neo-Gundams on Peacemillion 2 and most of the staff transferred to the Preventers, Headquarters had remained completely empty since that time. __I wonder if anyone__ has been in it since then?_

"Ken-nii-chan?" 

Kenji looked down at Race, who was staring up at him with wide, innocent violet eyes. He looked so much like Duo that Kenji felt a sudden pang of sadness as he wondered what his father must be going through then. Then he reminded himself that Duo Maxwell-Lowe was a Gundam pilot, one of the most skilled assassins in the world, and highly capable of handling rough situations. Not to mention that he had Heero Yuy-Lowe, the Perfect Soldier, with him. 

"What, Race?"

"When are we going to see Daddy and Poppa again?" 

Kenji felt unshed tears burning in his eyes, and blinked rapidly to get rid of them. "I don't know, Race. I really don't know." 

"_We have an updated list of those already obtained, and the suspects still at large," the anchorwoman was saying. "__The following have been taken into custody by the Earth Sphere: Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei, Sally Po, Rasheed Muhammad, Relena Dorilan –"_

Isaac groaned as he wrote down the last two names on the list in front of him. During the shuttle ride to L5, he'd kept himself busy by keeping track of the people who had been arrested, the people who had been put on the Earth Sphere's list, and the people who were still "at large". He'd been upset an hour before, when Wufei and Sally had been added to the list - which meant L5 was on the alert, too. And now it was obvious that they had gotten to the Sank Kingdom, because Rasheed and Relena had now been arrested as well. 

He added several more names, mostly Preventer personnel and nobody he knew personally, before tuning out the broadcast as the reporter went on to other topics. He looked out the shuttle window, and was relieved to see L5-XX-7529 in the distance. It'd been awhile since he'd been there - he only hoped that Meila would be there to greet him when he got to her house. 

There was still no answer from her, and he'd tried calling nearly a dozen times during his flight. 

That thought in mind, he pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed. The phone rang one, twice, three times before someone finally picked up. "_Hello?"_

"Hello – Katrina?" 

"_Yes." Katrina was cautious. _

"This is Trieze Isaac Kushrenada," Isaac said. Normally he hated throwing out his full name like that, but the easiest way to get Katrina Lafavour to cooperate without making life holy hell was to impress her. "I'd like to speak with Cynthia Marquise, please. Is she there?"

"_One moment. Cynthia!" _

There was a pause, and then he heard another click. "_Hello?"_

"Cindy?" Isaac breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God you're still around. It's Isaac."

"_I kind of figured," Cindy said. "__Where are you? Your mother, Lady Une, and grandfather are already at the safe house." _

"I'm about to land on L5," Isaac replied. "I'm going to get Meila. I've been trying to call her for hours, but there's no one answering. Have you heard from her?" 

"_No," Cindy replied. "__I haven't been able to get in touch with Noir or Kenji, either. There's no answer at their parents' house, and I know that's where Noir was. Just to be safe, though, I called Noir's place on L2 and Kenji's dorm room at the university - nothing there, either."_

"_That's strange," Isaac commented. "Especially considering they've got Race." _

"_Are you going to bring Meila back to the safehouse?" Cindy asked._

"No," Isaac said, lowering his voice. "Actually, I wanted to stop by L4 real quick - Quatre and Trowa were taken into custody shortly after Heero and Duo - did you hear about that?"

"_And Wufei, and Sally, and I was here when they took Rasheed and Aunt Relena. We're just lucky that Hilde managed to avoid being caught," Cindy replied. "__I'm going to wait things out here with Katrina, so keep in touch."_

"With _Katrina?" echoed Isaac. He shared the same low opinion about Relena's daughter that most of the people who knew her did._

"_Her father is out of town, so she's stuck here," Cindy replied. "__But you know what?" She had suddenly dropped her voice to a whisper, which indicated that Katrina was probably somewhere nearby. _

"What?" Isaac asked.

"_I think she's more worried about her mother than she's letting on. There might be hope for her yet."_

"Maybe," Isaac said, shrugging. "But before she's completely tolerable, she needs to focus on raising her I.Q a bit. I can't believe she _still hasn't realized Kenji's gay!" _

Cindy snorted derisively. "_Yeah, well, he's not exactly going out of his way to discourage her." _

Isaac murmured his acknowledgment. "Well, we've docked and I think the nice flight crew would like me to get off now, so I should let you go. I'll call you when I have any news, but don't call me, okay? My phone can't be traced, but yours can. I'll let you know what's up with Meila, and Trente when I see him. Ja, Cindy."

"_Ja ne, Isaac," Cindy said. Then she hung up, and Isaac folded his cell phone up and slid it into his breast pocket. _

An hour later, he found himself walking up the front walk to the small, modest one-story that the Fuangs called home. He'd been there only a couple of times since he and Meila had started dating, but he'd always found it quaint and comfortable. While he loved the manse that he and his mother shared, sometimes it got a little _too large. _

Isaac walked up to the front door, and rapped his knuckles sharply against the wood. 

The door swung up, and a pair of suspicious dark eyes peered out. 

"Gin Yung?" Isaac questioned, almost certain that the eyes belonged to Meila's older sister.

"Isaac?" Gin Yung questioned. 

"In the flesh," Isaac replied. "Is Mei here?"

The door opened, and Gin Yung ushered him inside. "She's in the other room. We've been keeping the phone off the hook all day, and have shut the house up tight to keep reporters away."

"Because Wufei and Sally were taken from here?" Isaac asked.

"Yes," Gin Yung replied. She shook her head. "I just do not understand any of this. How could they think that Wufei and Sally could have had anything to do with anything like what they've been saying?"

Isaac raised his eyebrows. "I've been monitoring the reports - there's been nothing on what the charges are about." 

"That's because you've been monitoring the wrong reports," Meila said. Isaac and Gin Yung had entered the room she was in, and now the 20-year-old all but threw herself at her fiancé. "God, Isaac, am I glad to see her."

Isaac crushed her up against him. "Damn, Mei - when you weren't answering the phone, I was really beginning to worry." 

Gin Yung smiled softly at them. "I'll leave you two alone. Lotus, come - let's go see what Mother is making for dinner.

Isaac watched as Wufei and Sally's five-year-old daughter ran over to Gin Yung and allowed the older woman to lead her away by the hand, closing the door to the room behind her. 

Meila led Isaac over to the couch, where they both sat down. "What's this about the wrong reports?" Isaac asked. 

"You should hear what the reporters are saying," Meila replied. "The television stations are keeping tabs on the arrests and such, but the newspapers are filled with reasons." She reached over to the end table next to her and picked up a paper. "Here."

Isaac took it, and looked at the front page. His jaw dropped. 

**THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GUNDAM PILOTS**

**Secrets of the Eve Wars**

The article, which was on the front page, went on to talk about how the Gundam pilots and their coconspirators were being charged with crimes against humanity, with needlessly risking innocent lives, with tampering of federal technology, with unjust attacks against the government, and with initiating war crimes in a time of peace. The writer of the article made it sound like they were evil monsters, and what made it worse was that everything the article said was 100% fact. 

The only problem was, it left out the fact that the world would be an intolerable place if the pilots hadn't done what they had done. 

"This is ludicrous!" Isaac exclaimed. 

"Oh, it gets better," Meila said snidely. "Keep reading." 

Isaac finished skimming over the front page article, and turned to the next set. The paper had been printed at the time when only Heero, Duo, Quatre, and Trowa had been taken into custody, although Wufei was mentioned as well. There were short biographies written on each of the five pilots, and whoever had written them had spared no harsh words. There were bigotry comments made about their sexual preferences, even going so far as to hint to Heero and Duo being 'unfit' parents and making it sound like the fact that they had a four-year-old son had sinister motives - Isaac nearly got sick after reading that part. They'd also played with Wufei's attitudes towards women, blowing them completely out of proportion. There were hints that Quatre wasn't fit to run the Winner Corporation due to his 'schizophrenic' episode with Wing Zero, and that Trowa was leeching off the Winner fortune after failing to hold down a job as 'some big tent bit performer'. 

"My God, they're completely scandalizing them!" Isaac cried out in outrage. "Do people actually _believe this crap?!" _

"I've already called the newspaper to give them my opinion on the subject," Meila said, sounding disgusting. "They actually had the nerve to ask me about my 'relationship' with Akira - you know they're going to run more of these damn things. The writer I talked to practically laughed in my face when I said Akira was just my kendo teacher, and nothing more."

Isaac whipped out his phone. "Well, let's just see them try to pull a stunt like that with Trieze Isaac Kushrenada!"

Meila took the phone out of his hands before he could dial a number. "Don't bother - you won't get anywhere. And all you'll do is make those sharks wonder what you have to do with all of this. We're not implicated - yet. Which is why we need to do everything we can to help them while we're still able to."

Isaac knew that Meila was right, but it still royally pissed him off that some morons could completely forget about everything Quatre and the others had done for Earth and the colonies, and pervert it to make them sound like deranged psychokillers. "Do you think people are believing any of this?" he asked.

"Right now? I don't think anyone knows what to think," Meila replied truthfully. "But as time goes on, they're going to start thinking that since the news is saying all of this, it must be the truth. Very few people look at the fact that most news coverage only tells one person's side of the story." 

"We need to plan for this," Isaac said. "This is going to come down to a public trial, isn't it?"

"Most likely," Meila agreed. "And we need to be ready to back up Quatre, Wufei, and the others when it does. We're the best vouches for their character, and I have a feeling that's going to play big in this. In the meantime, I'd love to find out who the hell seems to have it in for our commander." 

"There's one person who might know," Isaac said. 

"Who?" Meila asked, looking at him.

"Who else? Trente." Isaac leaned back on the couch, running his fingers through his hair. "If anyone would know who has a grudge against Quatre, Trente would. You know how protective they are of each other." 

"So you're suggesting that we go to L4?" Meila asked.

"Precisely." 

"When?"

"Now." 


	4. Hacker

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Four: Hacker**

Quatre glared at the detectives in the interrogation room. "No matter how many times you ask, I'm not giving you the names of anyone in Neo-OZ," he said harshly. "You seem to be doing a good job finding them on your own - hell if I'm going to help you out."

Detective Parker Reese frowned. "So you're admitting that this 'Neo-OZ' exists," he said. 

"I won't deny the truth," Quatre replied. 

"Yet you deny many of the allegations made towards you," Parker's partner, Lyssa Campbell, said. "Don't you understand that if you cooperate us, you're less likely to get a heavy sentence? The charges against you are serious."

"Cooperate?" Quatre shook his head and laughed. "I'm not going to help you put away my friends." 

"You pilots killed countless people back in 195," Parker spat. "You waged war on OZ without any cause, and numerous civilians died it your attacks. You committed assassinations, stole money, blackmailed politicians, and conspired with rebel factions to overthrow the government. Do you deny any of this?"

"No," Quatre said calmly. "How old are you, Detective?"

Parker was momentarily taken aback by the question. "Twenty-one," he replied.

A smile flickered on Quatre's face. "I have a son a year older than you," he said. "Do you know what that means?"

The detectives looked at him.

"It means," Quatre continued, "that when I was fifteen and fighting in the Eve Wars, you weren't even a _thought in the world. You were born into time of peace, while I grew up under oppressing military governments. I don't regret anything I did during the Wars, although I due wish that some things could have been approached differently. We did what we had to do, and we didn't force anybody to help us._

"We went through hell to help achieve peace." 

"And then you broke that peace with this Neo-OZ thing," Lyssa said coldly. "Can you explain that?"

"I've already told you about Quietus," Quatre said. "You refused to believe me. Before you try and make us out to be the villains, try getting all the facts first. I'm through answering your questions."

"You'll be through when we say you are," Parker said.

The door to the interrogation room opened, and a tall redhead with darkly tanned skin wearing a black business suit came in. "I believe he said that he's through answering your questions," she said smoothly. "Now, if you would be so kind - I'd like to have a word with my client."

When the detectives had finally left amidst grumbled complaints, the woman sank into the chair opposite Quatre. "How are you holding up, Uncle Quatre?" she asked.

Quatre smiled at her. "I've been through worse," he said. "If I can hold up against OZ interrogations, a couple of detectives old enough to be my children are a piece of cake. What are you doing here, Aurora?"

Aurora set her briefcase on the table and snapped it open. "Mother called me," she said. "She thought you might need some help." 

Aurora Armina was the daughter of Quatre's sister Iria, and at age twenty-nine she was a prominent attorney as well as his favorite niece and goddaughter. "I'm glad you believe in me enough to offer your services," Quatre said. 

"Of course I believe you, Uncle Quatre!" Aurora said, smiling at him. Then she sighed. "According to the prosecutor's office, there'll be a bail hearing in a couple of days. The chances of us getting you out on bail are slim, although I know that between your estate, Trente, and the members of our family who like you and your friends we could cover it. Most likely the judge will opt to hold you and the others without bail."

"Are you covering all of us?" Quatre asked with interest.

"Not alone," Aurora replied. "I've already visited Relena, and she's suggested a couple of lawyers in the Sank Kingdom who might be interested in helping to co-defend. This is probably going to be the biggest court battle in history. What we need to do is try and avoid it. In other words, get the charges against you dismissed before trial is necessary." 

"What do you need?" Quatre wanted to know. 

Aurora frowned slightly as she removed a piece of paper of her case. "At least for now, I don't know what sort of evidence the Earth Sphere has against you," she said. "But according to my mother, only a few people outside of Neo-OZ knew of its existence. I need you to tell me _anything that might help us figure out how the Earth Sphere discovered Neo-OZ." _

Quatre leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "The people I told about Neo-OZ outside of those in the organization I trust with my life. Besides, the information that you're talking about - information that would implicate this many people - is all sealed in the Headquarters database. And we changed the location of the files a few months…" Suddenly his eyes snapped open, wide. "My God. A month ago somebody tried hacking into the Winner Corporations files. They were looking in the spaces that were originally occupied by Neo-OZ information, but it'd been moved to a different harddrive earlier that year." 

Aurora's eyes lit up. "Have you changed the system since then?"

"Since they didn't get anything important and we were able to shut them out fairly quickly, no," Quatre replied. He tapped the tabletop in thought. "I know what you're getting at - yes, you might be able to track the hacker through the traces he or she left behind in our system. But you'll need a talented computer expert."

"Do you know any that you'd trust?" Aurora asked. 

"Heero and Duo are out of the questions, obviously," Quatre said, "but Kenji Lowe and Isaac Kushrenada - Isaac was the one who discovered Heero's security wall in L1, and Kenji was personally taught by his parents. They'd be able to do it."

Aurora nodded and closed her briefcase while standing up. "Don't tell anyone about this," she said. "I'll get back to you with the names of the other attorneys that will be co-defending you, and then I'll try to set up a meeting with all of us, but until them keep quiet about this hacker. We don't want whoever is behind this to try and stop us from finding out. I don't like any of this."

"You aren't the only one," Quatre said dismally. "And there's one other problem."

"What?"

"I tried calling Trente earlier at home. He wasn't there. I'm hoping he hasn't gotten into trouble." 

Aurora gave her uncle a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Uncle Quatre. Trente's resourceful. With any luck, he's trying to figure out what in the world is going on here, too." 

**ACCESS DENIED**

"What the hell do you mean, 'ACCESS DENIED'?" growled Trente as he sat in front of the glowing computer screen. "I'm the company vice president - how can you deny me access?" 

**ACCESS DENIED**

"Damn it." Trente took a sip of tea and leaned back in his chair. He'd been trying to get into the files that had been hacked into earlier that month, but he was having zero luck. He just wasn't as good with computers as some of the others were. Once again, he tried to type in his password on the screen. 

**ACCESS DENIED**

Suddenly he paused. Dimly he could hear the sound of footsteps on the metal floor above him, nearing the stairs at the end of the hallway. He had thought he'd taken precaution before coming down to Headquarters, but had someday managed to follow him. 

Without thinking, he picked up the gun sitting on the table next to him and moved stealthy out into the hallway, pausing outside the door leading into the stairwell. Through the fogged glass, he could make out the silhouette of  someone's head, and aimed the gun carefully. 

The door opened, and Trente found himself staring down the barrel of another gun. 

"Stalemate," a voice said from the behind the gunholder. "Kenji, Trente, put your weapons down." 

Trente lowered his gun and breathed a sigh of relief when he was Kenji, Noir, and Race. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, sliding it back in its holster wrapped around his shoulder. "I'm a little paranoid."

"So are we," Noir replied. 

"How did you get here so fast?" Trente asked. "I've been checking the shuttle rosters, and you weren't on them."

"We're making it hard for anyone to find us if they start looking," Noir said. He bent down and lowered Race to the floor, but the four-year-old didn't release his grip on his hand. "Race, this is Trente Winner-Barton. Trente, this little squirt is Race Lowe." 

"Hi," Race said shyly.

"Hi," Trente said, glancing at him briefly. "I'm glad to see you guys. Maybe you can help me figure out what the hell I'm doing wrong."

"Explain," Noir said. 

"Come on." Trente turned around and headed back down the hallway to the room he'd been in earlier. Their footsteps echoed in the silent Neo-OZ base, but at least they were able to relax now. "A month ago our computers were hacked into - and we think whoever it was was looking for Neo-OZ information."

"How do you figure?" Noir asked. 

"The files they were looking through before they got cut off were in the location that the Neo-OZ information used to be before we moved it to a separate server," Trente replied. "I've been trying to get into those files and see if I can find the handle of the hacker in the data, but I keep getting kicked out. The computer won't accept my password." He sat down in front of the computer and typed said password in again.

**ACCESS DENIED**

"I keep getting that," replied Trente. "Any ideas?"

"Move." Kenji stepped forward, and Trente gave up the chair. Kenji looked closely at the screen, then began typing furiously at the keyboard. His eyes never left the screen as his fingers flew over the keys, typing in invisible codes and commands. 

Five minutes later, they were in the files.

"Somebody want to explain what he just did?" Trente asked, glancing at Noir. 

Noir shrugged. "Kenji?"

"A firewall was installed around these files," he said, still typing. "Only cleared passwords can get through, and you have to be cleared each time you want to go in, and then you only have a ten minute window to get in. It doesn't matter if your president or vice president or what - unless you're cleared, you can't get in. 

"So I just hacked around the firewall," Kenji finished. "It was pretty simple once I knew what I was looking for."

"How'd you figure it out without changing the screen?" Trente asked with interest. 

Kenji smirked. "Simple. I helped Isaac design it."

Trente nearly choked on his tea. _Kenji was helping with the Corporation's security system? "Father never told me that you were helping Isaac."_

"I tested the systems for him," Kenji replied. "Isaac enlisted my help independently - Quatre had nothing to do with it." He typed in a few commands, and the screen changed once again, this time to a series of letters and numbers on the screen. He scanned the information, then highlighted a particular spot. "There's your hacker." 

"How do you know?" Noir asked. 

"The coding is different from the rest of the system," Kenji replied. "It had to have been dumped there by the hacker. But it's not a handle, so I can't ID the hacker himself…so…" Suddenly he frowned. 

"What?" Trente and Noir asked. 

Kenji hit a particular key, and the screen changed once again. "Oh, shit!" 

"What?" 

Kenji pushed away from the computer and threw himself at Trente. "Get down on the ground!" he shouted. 

Noir grabbed Race and shoved him down at the same time Trente and Kenji landed, a split second before the computer exploded and they were plunged in total darkness.  


	5. And Then There Were Five

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Five: And Then There Were Five**

Kenji coughed as the smoke cleared from around him, and opened his eyes. The room was pitch black save for the emergency lights that ran along the edges of the ceiling, and he groaned as he tried to pull himself up. 

Beneath him, Trente shifted his weight and managed to roll over. "Are you okay?" Kenji asked him.  

"I think so," Trente groaned. Kenji moved off of him and helped him sit up. He shook out his hair, and bits of broken glass fell to the ground. "What happened?"

"The computer blew," Kenji replied. "And it looks like it fried the base's main power." 

A few feet away, Noir shakily climbed to his feet, keeping a hand on Race's shoulder to keep the little boy from getting too close to the smoking shell that had been a computer. "Would you care to explain how you knew it was going to explode?" he asked. 

"I screwed up," Kenji said, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down at the floor. "The signature that I found in the data wasn't the handle of the hacker, but when I tried to follow its trace, I ran across a 'bomb' - a command entered into the system itself that would cause total meltdown in the computer system. Because we were accessing Winner Corporation files, it probably fried their power, too." 

Trente groaned. "Great. Just great." 

Race tugged Noir's hand. "Nii-chan?"

"Hai?" Noir looked down at him. 

"It's dark," Race said. "I don't like the dark. Can we turn the lights back on?" In typical four-year-old fashion, he had gotten over the shock of the explosion very quickly, and was now focusing on the first thing that came to mind. 

Noir glanced at Trente. "Well?"

Trente sighed. "There's a back-up generator in the hanger that's powering the back-up power - the main generator should be next to it. It'll need to be switched on manually, so one of us will have to go there. The rest can stay here and try to clean up some of this mess." 

Noir nodded. "Okay then." He reached down and picked up Race. "The kid and I will go turn on the generator, and you two can wait here. Be back in a flash." 

"Wait –" But Noir was already out the door, and Kenji's protests fell on deaf ears. Literally. 

An uncomfortable silence waited in the room as Kenji and Trente stood there in the dark, neither of them looking at the other, and neither of them thinking about cleaning up the mess from the computer. 

_I'm going to kill him, Kenji thought sourly. __Noir's just trying to stir up trouble. He knows my feelings on this subject. _

"Well." 

Kenji's eyes darted to the side to look at Trente. The older man wasn't looking at him, but rather at the floor, and in the darkness it was impossible to read his expression. 

"What?"

Trente winced visibly at the hostility that laced Kenji's tone. "You don't have to talk like that," he said softly.

Kenji rolled his eyes. "Why not? I think I've got enough justification after the stunt you pulled." 

Trente's head snapped up suddenly. "The stunt _I pulled? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"_

Kenji raised his eyebrows and turned to face Trente. "You're kidding me, right? You really don't have a clue?"

"Enlighten me." There was no missing the sarcasm in Trente's voice.

Kenji narrowed his eyes and took a step towards him, his voice lowering dangerously. "Enlighten this. You beg me to stay on L4 instead of returning to L1 after college. You promise nearly everything you can think of to get me to stick around. Then, after I make the decision to leave - and it wasn't an easy decision, then - you manage to take time out of your busy schedule to write. For three months. Three lousy months. And then nothing. Not a single fucking letter. Not one phone call. I wrote you every week for _year after you stopped, Trente Winner-Barton, and I never received a single damn word!" _

Trente's jaw dropped. "Oh, I don't _believe this!" he snapped. "__I stopped writing? __You stopped writing, Kenji! I wrote well over three months, but it was __you who stopped replying. And then you went and changed your phone number on me, so I __couldn't call." _

"The _college changed my number," Kenji replied. "What about you? Switching your office so that I couldn't get you at work, getting an unlisted number at home?" _

"That wasn't _my idea," Trente said. "And you could've found the new number if you'd really tried."_

"So could you!" Kenji shouted. 

They were less than a foot away from each other now, and with each retort they were moving closer and closer. 

The lack of distance was too much for Trente. Without a word, he grabbed Kenji by the shoulders and kissed him soundly on the mouth, a hot, open kiss that made him remember exactly what he had been missing for the past three years.

They continued like that for several minutes before they both remembered the unfortunate necessity of breathing. Kenji pushed away from Trente, stumbling back several steps as Trente did nearly the same thing to him. 

The two stared at each other in shock and surprise, but surprisingly with little anger. They stood there, panting, gazes locked as they struggled to think of something to say or do. 

"What was that?" Kenji asked after a moment.

Trente arched an eyebrow. "Um…a kiss?"

"You know what I mean."

Trente shrugged, and they looked at each other for a few more silent minutes. Then, suddenly, Kenji started to laugh.

Trente stared at him. "Uh…Kenji? What's so funny?"

Kenji covered his mouth with his hand, but couldn't stifle his laughter. "I was just thinking - isn't this pretty much what happened with your parents? A huge fight, total break up, no contact, and then exploding emotions the next time they saw each other?" 

Trente thought for a minute, and then grinned ruefully. "You're right. That _is pretty much what happened. Only their fight was a misunderstanding caused by someone…else…" Suddenly his eyes widened, and he looked at Kenji._

The same thing had apparently dawned on Kenji. "You wrote, and I wrote," Kenji said slowly, "but we never received the letters." 

"You think someone was intercepting them?" Trente asked.

"Whoever it was might have arranged for our phones to be changed so that we couldn't get a hold of each other," Kenji said. "Although that wouldn't make sense - you could've called my parents, or I could've called yours…"

"But did we?" Trente asked.

Kenji shook his head.

"Of course not," Trente continued. "We're both too stubborn and proud to do that. And whoever set this up had to have known that. And whoever it was might be the person stirring up trouble now." 

"Someone who knows about Neo-OZ," Kenji added. "Which leaves the question of…who?"

Trente frowned…and then spun around and slammed his fist into the wall. Kenji jumped at the sound of the impact, but before he could ask why Trente had done that, he found out. "Claire," Trente growled.

Kenji's eyebrows shot up. "Claire Ayallah Winner? Quatre's sister you lied to Trowa and messed with your mind?" 

"Exactly," Trente replied. "Before Father found out what a bitch she was, he told her_ everything about Neo-OZ, not realizing she was a Quietus agent. Remembering, she took off after The Quietus Conflict, right? She'd know how to access the Neo-OZ files, although she wouldn't know that they'd been moved. And considering that she ran our school for awhile, she'd know how to get to both of us - especially me." _

"You really think she'd go this far?" Kenji asked. 

"I do," Trente said softly. He clenched his fists so tight that his knuckles turned white. "That bitch. I'd love to know what it is that she hopes to gain by this, but we don't even have any real proof that she's behind this."

"Would she be able to hack into a computer?" Kenji wanted to know.

Trente shook his head. "I don't think so," he said. "She wasn't a big fan of computers."

"Then she's probably working with other people," Kenji mused. He sighed and glanced at the open door. "I hope Noir gets the power on soon. This darkness is giving me the creeps." 

_BANG!_

"Owwwww." 

"Nii-chan, you need to watch where you going."

Noir rubbed his shin and glared at Race. "Thank you for the tip, Race," he said. "I couldn't have figured that out by myself." 

Race smiled cutely at his older brother. "Welcome!" 

_Ah, the joys of being four, Noir thought ironically. __Must be nice. He felt slightly envious of the little boy, not because he wanted to be a smart-ass four-year-old, but because Race was enjoying something that Noir never had…childhood. _

Noir had spent the first thirteen years of his life within the walls of the Quietus laboratories on Mars. He hadn't even had a name back then…he was just 02 to most of the scientists. 

Most of them…

***

"Do you understand why we need you to do this, Dee?" 

Specimen 02, also known as Dee, looked at the young woman kneeling next to him. He was only seven years old, but he had an extensive vocabulary and was very observant. He also knew that the people in the white coats weren't very nice people. They were always so impatient with him, never bothering to wait for him to completely understand them before moving on to the next thing, and then getting irritated and impatient with him when he asked them to stop. And even then, it would take them some time to understand what he wanted or was saying. 

Dee probably would have gotten incredibly reclusive and sour if it hadn't been for her. 

Joanna was one of the scientists on the project. That's what they called it - project. Dee didn't know what sort of project it was, but it involved many tests that he had to participate in, some of them easy, some of them scary. And the scientists never explained the scary ones, either.  

But Joanna was different. She was nice to him, she always treated him like a human being. He didn't really know what emotions were, but he'd read about them, and he thought that maybe when Joanna was around, he felt the emotion of love. He wasn't sure, though. It was more like a feeling of comfort, rather than the heart-pounding emotion that the dictionary had said. 

"_Dee?"_

Joanna held up her right fist, her index finger extended straight up, then traced a question mark in the air. Then she crossed her index and middle fingers together and brought them up to her mouth, where she drew them away from her lips. She pointed at him, tapped her ear, touched the index finger of her right hand to the one of her left hand, and then pointed at herself. She finished it off with another question mark, and then looked at him expectantly.

"_Are you listening to me?"_

Dee nodded. He brought his small hands up and traced a circle around his heart. "_Sorry," he signed, speaking the words as he said them. "__I was thinking about the tests tomorrow."_

Joanna smiled sympathetically and put her hand on his shoulder. "_These tests are very important to the future of mankind, Dee," she told him. "__I have told you this before, remember?"_

Dee nodded. "_But I'm still scared. I don't like them." He looked up at her with wide violet eyes. _

"_I know you don't," Joanna replied. "__But I'll be there with you. I won't let them do anything to hurt you."_

_"Promise?"_

Joanna smiled. "_I promise." _

***

"Noir-nii-chan!" 

Noir started at the feeling of the insistent tugging at his side. "Uh, sorry, Race," he said. "I must've spaced out there for a moment. Come on - let's get to that generator." He took the little boy's hand and began walking towards the hanger. 

_Why was I thinking about that? he thought. __I swore I'd never look back on the past. That part of me is dead and gone - Dee no longer exists. His violet eyes darkened slightly at the thought. __Dee stopped existing when she…_

***

"Where's Joanna? Where is she?"

The little boy was now two years older, and had long since figured out that the other scientists had no interest in learning sign language. He'd taught himself how to speak clearly despite his inability to hear, and now he stood in the middle of the featureless room he called his own, shouting at the hawk-nosed scientist in the doorway. 

"Dr. Bentley won't be covering your tests from now on," the scientist replied. "I am Dr. Griffen. You will speak to me with respect, Specimen 02. Now follow me. It is time for your tests."

"I'm not going!" Dee shouted. "I want Joanna! Where is Joanna?!" 

Dr. Griffen frowned in disapproval, and turned to the younger man next to him. "What did the idiot woman do to the specimen? Who taught him to defy us?"

"Dr. Bentley took a maternal instinct to the boy," the assistant replied. "He grew quite attached to her."

Dr. Griffen frowned deeper. "What was she thinking? Treating the specimens as if they were human is ridiculous. It leads to bad results. No wonder this project wasn't handled correctly." 

Dee scowled. He didn't know what this new doctor meant by him not being human, but what really irritated him was that he was acting like he wasn't even in the room. Dee had learned to read lips long ago. But he wasn't about to tell the idiot doctor that - Joanna had told him the last time he had seen her to keep his advantages to himself. 

"Come along, 02," Dr. Griffen said, turning and walking out of the room. "Or you won't be fed later."

Dee had no choice but to follow him. As he walked down the hallway behind the scientist, he made one decision.

He hated this man.

***

Noir stood in front of the large generator, shining the flashlight that he had managed to dig out from somewhere on the control panel in front of him. "Race, do you see a red button anywhere?"

"There," Race said, pointing at a large button directly in front of him. "You're silly, nii-chan. How come you couldn't find it?"

"Because I'm quite a few feet taller than you," Noir said. He bent down and pressed the button, then stood back as he waited to see if the generator would kick in or not. For a moment it didn't seem to do anything, and then he heard a soft _hmmm. _

At the same time, something fell to the floor behind him, and the sound of metal hitting metal echoed in the darkness. 

Race clutched Noir's leg as Noir spun around, pointing the flashlight into the huge hanger. All he saw were abandoned catwalks and what had once been a service crane for one of the Neo-Gundams. Noir strained his ears to hear anything, but nothing came. 

Race whimpered. "I hear something," he whispered. 

Noir sighed and reached up, turning the volume on his hearing aid up to full blast. Now he could clearly hear everything in the hanger - including his own breathing and Race's too. 

And the breathing of at least one other individual.

Noir reached into his back pocket for the gun that he'd tucked away as he tried to pinpoint the source of the breathing. As he did so, he also calculated the risk of getting involved in either a shoot-out or a hand-to-hand fight with Race right next to him - neither of them were very good prospects, considering that his little brother could easily get hurt. 

The breathing was getting closer, and now he was picking up footsteps as well. 

Noir took a step back, an idea forming in the back of his mind, and reached out to feel the control panel of the generator. He pictured it in his mind, knowing that the main power switch was only about half a foot away from his hand - and that judging from where the footsteps were, if he threw the switch now, the intruder was in for a very big surprise. 

_Please don't let this be Trente or Kenji, Noir thought as he reached out and threw the switch._

"ARGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" 

The hanger was flooded with light in an instant, and Noir had to wince as the full lights came on after being off for so long. Somewhere in the hanger, the intruder was still yelling incoherently, and Noir couldn't help having a satisfied smile on his face. 

Which completely vanished when the intruder began cursing in an actual language. 

"GOD DAMMIT, WHO THE HELL JUST TURNED ON THE FUCKNIG LIGHTS?! FIRST I NEARLY FALL DOWN THE DAMN STAIRS IN THE DARKNESS, NOW I'M FUCKING BLIND! WHO WAS IT?! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THEM, I'LL…." 

Noir cringed in pain as he reached up to turned down his hearing aid, then remembered that Race was only four years old and was listening with rapt attention. Noir knelt down and covered the little boy's ears, then called out hesitantly: "Isaac?"

"I'M GOING TO MURDER THE ASSHOLE WHO…Noir?" 

"Yeah." 

"Where are you?"

"By the generator." 

Noir removed his hands from Race's ears and waited until Isaac stepped out from around several computers. The red head stopped, looked at him, then walked forward with a sense of purpose. He stopped just in front of Noir.

And socked the Shinigami pilot right in the jaw.

Noir stumbled back and just caught himself before he hit the generator. "What was _that for?!" he demanded, rubbing his aching jaw as he glared at the Sparticus pilot. _

"That was for nearly blinding me," Isaac said, cracking his knuckles. "There. We're even."

"I didn't do it on purpose," Noir muttered. Then he paused. "Okay, maybe I did…but I didn't know it was you, I swear!"

"Don't take it personally – Isaac's been looking for an excuse to hit somebody since this whole mess of a situation started." 

"Meila?" Noir looked beyond Isaac at the young Chinese woman who was approaching them. "Wow. It's been…how long? Four years?"

Meila nodded. "I haven't seen you since you graduated from the Academy." She smiled at Race. "Is this your little brother?"

"Yup," Noir said. "This is Race Shadow Lowe. Race, I'd like you to meet some more friends of mine and Kenji's - Trieze Isaac Kushrenada, and Meila Fuang." 

Isaac flashed Race a grin. "Hey there, kid. Has anybody ever told you that you look just like your dad?"

"Which one?" Race asked, smiling innocently - and doing a very good job of faking it. 

"Uh, oh, watch it, Isaac," Meila teased. "I have a feeling that Race here might even be able to out-con _you."_

"Never happen," Isaac said confidently. 

"I don't know," Noir said slowly, ruffling his brother's hair. "He not only looks like Pops, but according to Dad, he acts like him, too." 

"Another little Shinigami, eh?" Isaac asked, smirking. 

Noir glanced to make sure Race wasn't looking, then quickly gave Isaac a very rude hand gesture. "So what are you two doing here?"

"Looking for Trente," Meila replied. "Isaac came to L5 to pick me up, and we decided to see if we could find Trente while we were at it. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Trente," Noir said, smiling slightly. "Kenji, Race, and I had to stow away in the cargo hold of a shuttle, but when we got here Trente was actually on to something. He and Kenji are back with what's left of the computer we were using, and I came here to restore power. Unfortunately, I think we might have fried the Winner Corporation computers as well."

"They have back-ups," Isaac said assuredly. "Well, I guess we better go find Trente and Kenji then…before they manage to kill each other."

"Oh, you know about their break-up, too?" Noir asked. "Funny - I wasn't sure if you'd heard. Neither of you really kept in touch."  

Isaac and Meila stopped dead in their tracks. "What do you mean?" Meila asked. "I wrote a bunch of letters at first, but they never got answered." 

"Same here," Isaac said. 

The three pilots stared at each other for a few minutes. "I think we need to talk to Trente and Kenji," Noir finally said. "And fast." 


	6. Complications

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Six: Complications**

"_We're sorry. Your call cannot be placed at this time."_

"Fuck." 

Cindy shut off her cell phone, barely stopped herself from throwing it down on the desk in front of her, and leaned back in her chair. "I have the _biggest headache in the world. This is getting me nowhere."_

"Need some help?"

Cindy looked up and smiled at Sandra, who had just appeared in the doorway. "Not unless you can magically conjure Isaac out of thin air," she said. "I've been trying to get a hold of him, but something must be interfering with his cell phone. And there's still no luck with Trente, Kenji, Noir, or Meila." 

"Maybe it's your phone," Sandra suggested. "Have you tried using the main line?"

"Hell no," Cindy said. "Do you know how likely it is that Aunt Relena's phones have been bugged?" 

Sandra tugged on one of her curls and sighed. "Well, we need to think of something. Meanwhile, you have a visitor downstairs." 

"Yeah? Who?"

"Aurora Armina," Sandra said. "Do you recognize the name?"

"She's lead defense council for our side," Cindy said, rising from her chair. "She called me earlier - something about some assistance with the case. Of course, I wouldn't be able to co-chair since I haven't finished law school, but a few members of our firm have expressed an interest. Less people are going to turn against us with Aunt Relena under arrest." 

The two women moved downstairs to where Aurora was patiently waiting. When they stepped into the living room, they were both a little taken aback at the fact that Katrina was there, but they decided to ignore her unless she proved to be a pain. "Hi, Aurora," Cindy said cordially, shaking the other woman's hand firmly. "Thanks for taking the time out to come here."

"It was no problem," Aurora said. "Actually, I'm glad that I was able to reach you. After speaking with Quatre, I tried calling two people that he recommended, but I couldn't reach either of them." 

"Let me guess," Cindy said. "Were they Trente Winner-Barton, Treize Isaac Kushrenada, Meila Fuang, Noir Lowe, or Kenji Lowe?"

"Treize Isaac Kushrenada and Kenji Lowe," Aurora confirmed. "Why?"

"We can't get a hold of them, either," Sandra replied. "I'm Sandra Martinez, by the way." 

"Pleased to meet you," Aurora said. Then she sighed and sat down on the couch next to Katrina. Sandra and Cindy took seats across from them. "This entire case is puzzling me, quite frankly. I'm not sure where the Earth Sphere is coming up with all of this." 

"What do you mean?"

Aurora sighed. "All of this talk about Neo-OZ attacking an unarmed Mars Colony, building mobile suits, rebuilding the Gundams, using children to fight - it's absurd." 

Sandra frowned. "Ms. Armina, what do _you think Neo-OZ is about?" _

"According to my mother, Neo-OZ was a research facility composed entirely of scientists and engineers," Aurora replied. "Although it did strike me odd as to why Uncle Quatre would call is _Neo-OZ, I still don't see where the Earth Sphere could draw the conclusions that it's drawing." _

Cindy grimaced. "Did your mother tell you this before or after the charges were brought?" She knew that Iria knew exactly what Neo-OZ was about, but apparently, her daughter didn't.

"Before." 

Again Cindy and Sandra exchanged glances, and Cindy saw Sandra also glance nervously over at Katrina. Relena's daughter was also clueless about Neo-OZ's true purpose, as well. 

"I'm afraid that things are that simple when it comes to Neo-OZ," Cindy said hesitantly. "See, Ms. Armina - Neo-OZ _was a military facility." _

Katrina and Aurora both looked at the other two women sharply. "Excuse me?" Aurora demanded. 

"Neo-OZ was a secret military facility," Cindy replied. "However, only a small percentage of its personnel were actually soldiers. They were Quatre, myself, Sandra, Kenji Lowe, Trente Nanashi, Meila Fuang, and Isaac O'Rielly. Nanashi and O'Rielly have since changed their names to Trente Winner-Barton and Treize Isaac Kushrenada."

"So the Earth Sphere is telling the truth about this?" Katrina blurted out. "They really committed acts of war during a time of peace?"

"The problem is," Cindy said, looking sharply at her cousin, "that the Earth Sphere doesn't have all of the facts. Quatre created Neo-OZ not as a way to disobey the law, but as a way to protect the Colonies _and the Earth. Many years ago, Quatre received word from a reliable source that there was unrest on the Mars Colony. A secret faction of high-ranking Mars officials were working against the Earth Sphere, plotting a devious idea of destroying the Earth and the Colonies entirely. Before Quatre's contact could get concrete evidence to show to the Earth  Sphere, however, he was killed. That man was my father - Zechs Marquise, also known as Milliardo Peacecraft." Cindy closed her eyes as she pictured her father's face, a face she could really only recall from photographs. _

"Uncle Milliardo and Aunt Lucretzia died in a shuttle accident," Katrina said softly.

"It was planned," Cindy said bitterly. "I was actually in the Sanq Kingdom at the time, visiting Aunt Relena – this was after your parents were divorced, Katrina – and when Aunt Relena found out, she decided that I needed to be hidden. So she turned me over to an old acquaintance of hers, a Preventer named Wufei Chang. 

"Wufei and his partner, Sally Po, pretty much raised me on the Preventer bases where they were stationed. Wufei even taught me how to pilot a mobile suit, however tedious and useless that seemed at the time." Cindy sighed. "Meanwhile, things were growing uneasy for Quatre. He maintained contact with Lady Une throughout this time - she, too, had known about my father - and they had come to conclusion that the secret faction, known as Quietus, was steadily gaining power. It was Wufei's idea that they send a spy in, someone who could infiltrate Quietus' headquarters on Mars." 

Sandra glanced at Cindy. "I've never heard this part of the story," she said. "Just the latter information." 

"That's because nobody but those involved needed to know the details of the infiltration," Cindy said. "I was eight when the decision was made. One month later, Quatre contracted several scientists from around the world into Neo-OZ to begun construction on his biggest, most secret, and most dangerous part of the plan. The construction of eight mobile suits made from Gundanium and Neo-Titanium alloy. They were dubbed _Neo-Gundams." _

Aurora's eyes widened. "He approved the creation of mobile suits, even though it was forbidden by the Earth Sphere?"

"He was desperate, I guess," Cindy said softly. "At any rate, construction began on the Neo-Gundams almost immediately. While most of them were contracted by various branches of the Winner Corporation, each owned by one of Quatre's sisters, one of them was owned by one of the scientists herself." 

"My mother," Sandra said, nodding. "But Mami died of leukemia several years ago, and bequeathed Atlantica to Quatre in her will. The only condition was that I be chosen as the pilot. Atlantica's systems were specially designed for only me, and no one else. Quatre had no choice - he needed Atlantica, the only water-going Neo-Gundam." 

"But Atlantica was the last Neo-Gundam to receive her pilot," Cindy said, picking the story up again. "Chronosphere was actually the first Neo-Gundam to be completed, even though it was dubbed 05. As the other Neo-Gundams entered the second stage of construction, I was being schooled in the use of Chronosphere by Wufei and Lady Une, and finally, at age thirteen, I was ready to infiltrate Quietus."

"What about the other Neo-Gundams?" Katrina asked, leaning forward with interest. Cindy glanced at her, uncertain about how to take her level of interest. But it wasn't as if she could order Katrina away - Relena was involved in this, and Katrina _was her daughter. _

"Two years prior to my entry into Quietus, as Neo-Gundams 01, 02, 03, 04, 06, and 08 were preparing to enter third-stage construction – Altantica had been completed at this point, as it was independent of the rest of the project – the entire project very nearly fell apart. Someone, no one is sure who, discovered the location of 08 and stole it - the prototype mainframe, the blueprints, the support equipment, everything. There was no trace of it. All of the Preventers and Neo-OZ were in a panic. Quatre ordered the remaining Neo-Gundams to be sent to Headquarters on the Winner Colony so that he could personally oversee their completion." 

"Can I ask a question?" Aurora interrupted. 

"What?" Cindy asked. 

Obviously Aurora looked a little uncomfortable addressing this subject, but she took in a deep breath and looked at the two pilots. "I remember Uncle Quatre going on about how horrible it was that the five scientists who created the original Gundams had used children to pilot. Why would Uncle Quatre then do the same thing? If this timeline is correct, then you, Cindy, were thirteen when you became a pilot, and Sandra was fifteen." 

"True," Cindy agreed. "But when I was chosen to pilot, Quatre came to a realization. He wasn't trying to train an army - he was trying to secure a defense team against Quietus. The pilots of the new suits would either have to already be skilled at piloting a Gundam, or they would have to be clean slates. In other words, Quatre couldn't take an adult because he would then have to untrain everything the adult had learned and retrain him to use a Neo-Gundam. He would have to reteach combat skills. It was easier to start from a blank slate.

"Which is what he did. When I was thirteen, the Neo-Gundams were completed. Quatre signed himself on as pilot of 01, Neo-Sandrock, and began the task of finding pilots for the others. Sandra was a must for 07, but the others were a bit harder. Each of the other four Neo-Gundams needed a special type of pilot. 02 needed someone who could handle the ZERO System. 03, someone who could handle the intense weaponry systems. 04 was a defense suit, and needed a pilot who wouldn't be inclined to fight instead of defend, while 06 needed a pilot good at hand to hand combat."

"So who did Quatre choose?" Katrina asked. 

"Heatseeker, 03, was the first to get his pilot," Cindy said. "Quatre's own son, Trente, was chosen. Originally Trente was to pilot Neo-Sandrock, but that changed when Quatre decided to pilot as well. Apparently Quatre had determined Trente would pilot since he was very young. 

"04, Sparticus, was next. His pilot was a teenager going by the name Isaac O'Rielly, who had been sent to L4 in the Witness Protection Program and had accidentally stumbled across Neo-OZ. 06 got her pilot the same time Atlantica did, and Meila Fuang was chosen. She was a fighter from the L5 sector who had run away from home and taken up refuge with help from a Neo-OZ intelligence agent, Akira Koto."

Aurora raised her eyebrows. "Wasn't he the man who married Dorothy Catalonia?"

"That's right," Sandra said. "Akira was also my guardian for most of my time on L4 as well as Meila's." 

"What about 02?" Katrina prodded gently.

"MegaWing," Cindy said. She shook her head. "I remember Wufei saying that Quatre was completely insane for designing a suit to use the ZERO System. But Quatre was adamant - he was positive that the ZERO System had been a factor in the Eve Wars. So he went ahead and designed MegaWing, a deluxe version of the Wing Zero. And MegaWing then proceeded to reject every person who tried to pilot it. Quatre had nearly given up - until he was actually approached to pilot it by a fifteen-year-old from L1.

"The boy's name was Kenji Lowe, and he took to MegaWing like a fish to water. It was only later, much later, that the reason why was discovered - Kenji was actually the biological son of two Gundam pilots, Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell." 

"Kenji?!" yelped Katrina. "_My Kenji?!" _

Cindy glanced at Sandra sharply, warning the younger woman not to make a scene. Katrina's infatuation with Kenji was not the problem right now. "Quatre now had his team. A diverse team of Neo-Gundam pilots, as well as one of them infiltrating Quietus Headquarters. And it wasn't a moment too soon – before long, Quietus made its first move." 

"What did they do?" Aurora started to ask, but she was cut off by the sound of the telephone ringing. Cindy motioned for her to wait a minute, and answered the phone. 

The three women in the room watched as her face paled, and then her lips tightened in a flat line. "You're kidding," she said flatly. "All right. I'll tell them. Thank you, Treize." 

"Was that Treize Sr.?" Sandra asked in surprise when Cindy hung up. "He doesn't usually call out of the estate for security reasons."

"He has reasons," Cindy said. "The estate was just raided. Anne, Mariemeia, Dorothy, and Akira were all taken into custody. Treize managed to get out with Yoshi, and they're heading here. He wants us to meet him, but if we do and we're caught, that's the end." She turned towards the entrance to the living room. "Hilde!" 

Hilde appeared in the doorway suddenly. "What?"

Cindy quickly scrawled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Hilde. "Take this, and take one of the cars. Just make sure no one sees you."

Hilde smiled. "Leave it to me," she said, and was gone as quickly as she showed up. 

"That's four more down," Sandra murmured. She watched as Cindy walked over to the large television in the corner of the room and turned it on. "What are you doing?" 

"Treize told me to check the news," Cindy said as she flipped to the right channel. The reporter was already talking. 

"_We repeat: The Earth Sphere is currently seeking out the following people. Keep in mind that they are not being implicated in anything, but are merely wanted for questioning. Trente Winner-Barton. Kenji Lowe. Noir Lowe. Treize Isaac Kushrenada. Cynthia Marquise. Meila Fuang. Sandra Martinez. And still at large according to the APB are Hilde Schbieker, Catherine Bloom, Lucas Passmore, Iria Armina…" _

Cindy muted the television and turned to Aurora, Sandra, and Katrina. "They know," she said. 


	7. Silent Vow

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Seven: Silent Vow**

 "So, let me get this straight," Isaac said as he carried the tray of food over to the table in the fast food restaurant that they'd claimed. "You think Claire Ayallah Winner had something to do with this? That chick who basically did everything she could to ruin Quatre?" 

"It's the only thing that makes sense," Trente said, leaning back in his chair and stretching slightly. Noir raised an eyebrow at his brother when the older man's arm casually flopped onto the back of Kenji's own chair, but the younger Lowe ignored him. "Who else would know that Neo-OZ's files had been kept in that databank, hmm? Not to mention the stunt she pulled between all of us is almost copycat of what she did to my parents." 

"He's got a point," Meila said, dipping a french fry in ketchup before biting into it. "She has tried some pretty underhanded stuff before. But the question is – would she go this far? Surely she knows that if convicted, everyone faces the possibility of execution, right? Would she risk her younger brother like that?"

Trente sighed. "We're pretty sure that Claire had something to do with the bomb on the resource satellite five years ago. The one Kenji and I were on. The one that Claire and Quatre's sister Zoey ran." 

The table fell silent, and for a few minutes they just sat there, eating. Race occupied himself by dive-bombing the toy shuttle he'd gotten with his meal into Kenji's empty soda cup, while Noir held his braid to make sure that it didn't accidentally land in _his soda. Noir sighed. "So what do we do now?" _

"We could always go back to headquarters," Kenji said uncertainly. 

"Except that even after turning the generators on, the computer system is still fried," Trente replied. "You and Isaac weren't able to bring it back, remember?"

"If only we had…_them," Meila dejectedly. _

"But what good would _they do?" Isaac asked. "I know how you feel, Mei – but really, what would having __them do to help? This isn't a combat situation. It isn't like we're going up against Cyclones." _

"Isaac's right," Trente said. "In any case, there's only five of us here. Which reminds me – Isaac, were you able to reach Cindy or Sandra?"

Isaac shook his head. "No answer at the estate. I wish I could find out what was happening, but…" 

"Ken-nii-chan! Noir-nii-chan!" Race said, tugging on his brothers' shirt sleeves.

"What is it, Race-chan?" Kenji asked. 

"Look! Look!" He was pointing at a television screen perched in a corner of the restaurant. 

The whole group turned to look. 

"Oh, fu—fun," Isaac said before Meila could kick him in the shin. "What do you think they're saying?"

"I can just imagine," Trente said grimly as he watched his face, Kenji's, Noir's, Isaac's, Meila's, Sandra's, and Cindy's appear on the screen. The sound was turned off, so they couldn't hear what the reporter was saying…but it was very easy to figure out. "Either somebody told, and I can't imagine that, or they uncovered more of Claire's crumb trail. Gather up your trash, act normally, and let's get out of here. Split up immediately and meet at the spaceport in one hour. Try not to get caught between then and now." 

"Split how?" Isaac asked as they stood up.

"Noir and Race, you and Meila, Kenji, come with me. I'm going to need your help." Trente glanced out of the corner of his eye and noticed one of the workers behind the counter looked at the television and talking on the phone.

Less than five minutes later, the police arrived. 

There was no sign that Trente or the others had even been there, save for a single toy jet sitting on a table in the back of the restaurant. 

"You want to explain to me what we're doing in your room?" Kenji asked as he tossed his jacket onto one of Trente's chairs. "And why we climbed through your window to get here?"

Trente was already hooking up his laptop. "We're going to reserve one of the Winner Corporation's private shuttles under my name," he replied. "It'll take off in half an hour. By the time they delay it and search it, we'll already be on a service shuttle supposedly headed for the nearest resource satellite. By the time they realize that we're not on the other shuttle, we'll have already vanished from radar. That's the nice thing about service shuttles – it's very easy to shield them from radar probes. Especially if they were originally designed to transport Neo-OZ supplies to Headquarters without detection." 

Kenji raised an eyebrow as he watched Trente type. "You've certainly got everything checked out. But don't you think it's risky coming in here? You know somebody at that restaurant already called the authorities. And you're pretty well-known, Mr. Winner-Barton." 

Trente finished typing the necessary information, then shut down the laptop and shoved it into carrier. "Most of the Neo-OZ worked for the Winner Corporation, too," Trente replied. "There are plenty of people here who know the truth – and would rather not see my parents and I in any trouble. We'll be long gone by the time the police get past the security guards and make it up here." Trente grinned. "After all, all of our guards are Maguanacs, and it's almost impossible to argue with them." 

Kenji nodded. "Okay, then. Now answer me this. Why did you insist of having _me come with you?" _

Trente grabbed a tote bag out of his closet and began dumping various items into it – a spare change of clothes, a sealed box with the name _Quatre inscribed on it, a spare gun, a couple of fake I.Ds without pictures, and a toothbrush and toothpaste. "I don't know," he said, shrugging as he zipped the bag. "Just an impulse, I guess." _

"Well, okay, then," Kenji said. "By the way, how much time do you figure we have before we have to get out of here?"

"We have to meet the others at the spaceport in about forty-five minutes," Trente replied, "so we've probably got another thirty, tops." 

"Damn," Kenji said. 

"Huh?" Trente looked up just in time of widen his eyes as Kenji grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him back onto his bed, kissing him soundly as he did so. "Wha --?" Trente barely managed when they pulled apart slightly. 

"Oh, relax," Kenji said, a sly grin that he could've only gotten from Duo spreading across his face. "We've only got time to make out for awhile, after all. We'll save the rest for later." 

"Promise?" Trente asked as he wrapped his arms around Kenji and drew him down for another kiss. 

"_Who's the one who said to meet in an hour?" Noir asked sourly as Kenji and Trente suddenly appeared in the alley next to the spaceport that everyone else was already standing in. "You're late."_

"Only a couple of minutes," Trente said, running his fingers through his hair to try and get it all going in one direction. Beside him, Kenji was looking unusually flushed, and it only got worse when Isaac smirked at him knowingly. 

Race, however, had no qualms about speaking his mind. He walked right over to his brother, took his hand, and said loudly, "Ken-nii-chan, your shirt is on backwards." 

Meila, Isaac, and Noir burst into peals of laughter as Trente and Kenji turned bright red, while Race just stood there trying to figure out what was so funny. 

"Can we _act like adults, __please?" Trente asked testily. "We've got about five minutes to get on the service shuttle and get out of here. The dock should be near the back entrance to the port…Noir, can you get us in?" _

Noir reached up and removed a small pin from his hair, holding it up. "Just call me Mr. Cat Burglar. I'll have that lock picked in a flash." 

Sure enough, they were through the door and on the shuttle within five minutes time, and another five minutes later the shuttle completed a successful launch. Trente set it on autopilot and left the cockpit, moving back to the main cabin. Because it was a service shuttle, there wasn't much space for crew, but they'd managed to make do. 

"Now what, Fearless Leader?" Isaac teased Trente. 

"Urusai, bakayarou," Trente shot back. 

"That's not nice," Race lectured Trente seriously. 

Trente raised an eyebrow and looked at Noir and Kenji. "He knows Japanese?"

"Hello?" Noir asked. "His father _is Heero Yuy. What language did you __think Dad was speaking when he said 'omae o korosu'?"_

"That's not nice, either."

"Hush, Race," Kenji said, tugging on his little brother's braid slightly. "Read your book, okay? Us older kids have some things to talk about." 

"'K," Race said, turning his attention to the book in his lap. 

"Kids?" repeated Meila. 

"Compared to our parents?" Kenji shot back. "But seriously, Isaac's right…now what?" 

Trente sighed. "Actually, I'm open to suggestions."

Noir cleared his throat. "Well, I was doing some thinking while we were waiting for you to show up. I was thinking that Meila might be right."

All eyes turned and focused on him. 

"I think we're going to end up needing the Gundams," Noir continued. "See, they might be the best witnesses for our parents." 

"Explain," Isaac said, leaning forward.  

Noir glanced over at Trente. "Well, I don't know about the other Gundams, but check this out: when I finished building Shinigami, one of the components that I added into it was a video recorder – sort of like a security camera. It's part of Shinigami's A.I. technology. It's sort of a diary for the Gundam." 

"You're kidding!" Meila exclaimed. "Noir, that's great! If that's true, then those records could prove that we weren't trying to break any laws!" 

"No, they won't," Kenji said, shaking his head. "The problem with that is that Noir joined up with the rest of us very late in the fight, remember? Those recordings would show _his motives, which were to destroy Quietus, but they wouldn't do a damn thing to help Neo-OZ except maybe have data on the final battle."_

"And then not so much, because Shinigami was out of that except for the point when Noir saved Kenji's life," Isaac said, the hope on his face vanishing. "Damn."

"So we'll use the other recordings," Trente said.

"Right. We'll use the – what?" Meila, Kenji, and Isaac stared at him, while Noir grinned. 

"The A.I. data was installed in every Neo-Gundam," Trente replied. "Only Shinigami, Atlantica, and Chronosphere had it running, though, and even then Atlantica and Chronosphere never made much of an impression with theirs. But all of the Neo-Gundams had the capability. Therefore, they each had these video recordings that Noir's talking about. There's no way of knowing how much is useful, of course, unless –" 

"Unless we retrieve the Neo-Gundams," Isaac finished. "All right! I volunteer!" 

"Baka," muttered Meila. "If Isaac goes, I'll go, too." 

"Me, too," Kenji and Noir said. 

Trente shook his head. "We know where they are – on Peacemillion 2. But sooner or later the Earth Sphere is going to get curious about that ship, so the last thing we need to do is draw more attention to ourselves. A transport shuttle should do the trick, so we'd only need to send two people. Since Isaac and Meila are so eager to go, it might as well be them."

Isaac and Meila slapped their hands together, grinning. 

"That's nice, but what about the rest of us?" Kenji asked. "And Race – we can't keep dragging him after us, especially now that we're on the run. We need a place to take him."

"My parents," Meila said suddenly. "They're already watching Lotus – you know, Wufei and Sally's daughter? And my parents have a personal transport shuttle that Isaac and I can use, too. I'm sure they'll let us." 

"That solves that," Noir said. "And here's my idea – Kenji, Trente, and I take this hunk of metal to Earth, ditch it in some remote place, and get to work tracking down Claire. Trente, when's the last time your dad heard from his sister?"

"Five years ago," Trente replied. 

"Then there's a good chance we'll turn up something on Earth," Noir said. "I can't imagine any place else that she could hide effectively. The Winners are pretty much everywhere in the colonies." 

"Noir's right," Kenji said. "So we set a course to L5, drop of Race, get Meila and Isaac safely on their way to Peacemillion 2, then head for Earth. Where should we go once we're on Earth? Like Noir said, we have to be able to ditch the shuttle and get away quickly." 

Trente grinned, an idea forming in my head. "Leave that to me," he said confidently. "Father's got quite a few connections in some very remote places." 

"I'll go reset the autopilot," Noir said, standing up. 

"Meanwhile, we should all try and get some sleep on our way there," Meila said. "Who knows how long it'll be before we get another chance? Look, Race is already out." Sure enough, the four-year-old was slumped over in his seat, fast asleep. 

Isaac managed to locate some pillows and blankets, and they all staked out a territory on the shuttle. There were only two or three seats in the cabin, since it wasn't a passenger craft, and pulled out the armrests so that Race could lay down and left the other chair for Noir when he came back. Isaac and Meila found themselves a place on one side of the shuttle, while Trente and Kenji spread out their blankets on the other. 

"Trente?" Kenji asked sleepily once they'd all laid down and the cabin lights had been dimmed. 

"Hmmm?" was the reply. 

"Are you scared?"

"You, too?"

"A little. But not for me. For Dad and Pops." Kenji's voice sounded a little choked up. "Damn it, I don't like to cry." 

Trente put his arm around Kenji and pulled him closer. "It's all right," he said softly. "We'll solve this. And I'll make you a deal – we find Claire, you can take the second shot."

"Second?" 

"Yeah." Trente's voice grew cold as he remembered everything that she'd screwed with when it came to his family. "I get the first one." 

_I'll find you, Claire. And if I don't find the evidence to take care of you – you better pray to Allah that nothing happens to my parents. After everything you did to them – I'll make you pay. _


	8. Meanwhile, Behind Bars

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Eight: Meanwhile, Behind Bars**

_I'm going to make it! I'll make it, and I'll save him, and then everything will be okay!_

The little boy ran through the dark streets, hurrying towards his destination. Everything swirled around and past him, all of it only recognizable as being buildings. Exact features were blurred as the boy hurried to his friend. 

_"Solo!" the little boy shouted as he ran through a doorway. "__Solo, I got the medicine! I got the medicine, and now we'll be okay!" _

But the dark warehouse the two boys had called home was empty. 

"_Solo?" Confused, the boy turned around, and found himself standing in a small room, a fireplace in one wall. Everything was quiet, bright, and cheerful. . __Maxwell Orphanage? Was I dreaming? "__Father Maxwell! Sister Helen!" He ran out of the room into the kitchen, and was relieved to see both the priest and the nun standing there. "__Father Maxwell! Sister Helen!" He ran towards them, but for some reason he couldn't make it. They seemed to be getting further and further away. __"Wait!"  He ran through another doorway, and they were gone._

Replaced by something else. "_Deathscythe?" A figure stood in front of the Gundam. "__Heero!" And the boy ran towards them, certain that this time he'd be able to make it. _

But when he reached Deathscythe, Heero was gone. "_Heero? Heero? Hey, Heero! Heero!"_

"_Duo!"_

_"Heero?"_

_"Duo!" _

He looked up, and saw a dark shadow hovering over him. He trembled in fear as the shadow descended towards him, laughing. 

"_Get away from me! No! I'm not like that anymore! I don't need you! I'm happy! I have a family! Heero! I need you, Heero! Kenji, Noir, Race!"_

_"Duo!" _

_"I don't want to be the God of Death anymore!" _

_"DUO!" _

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Violet eyes snapped open as he lashed out, and heard skin connecting with skin.

"OW!" 

"Wha--?" Duo's eyes focused then, and saw Quatre kneeling in front of him, one hand over his eye gingerly. "Quatre?"

"That's some right hook you've got, Duo," Quatre said, shaking his head. "You were having a nightmare. Are you okay?"

"A…nightmare?" Duo could vaguely recall a few details of his dream, and shuddered. "I'm okay, Cat. But what are you doing here?"

"I'm your cell partner," Quatre replied. "They've brought in so many of us that we have to double and triple up – no more of this isolation business." Quatre looked at Duo worriedly. "What's got you so upset? Not knowing what's going to happen to the kids?"

"Yeah," Duo said softly. "I know Kenji and Noir can take care of themselves, but Race is only four." 

"And I'll bet he's safe and sound with his brothers," Quatre assured him. "Worried about Heero, too?"

"I haven't seen him since we were brought in, Quatre," Duo whispered. 

Quatre walked over to the cot that Duo was sitting on and grabbed his arm, hauling him to his feet and dragging him over to the cell bars at the front of the cell. "Say hello," he said. 

Duo looked through the bars into the cell opposite theirs. His eyes lit up. "Heero!" 

Heero was at the front of his cell in a flash. "Duo," he said, obviously relieved to see his husband in one piece. "Have they treated you okay?" 

"Aside from the endless barrage of questions, yeah," Duo said. He sighed wearily. "This is getting to be a real pain, you know, koibito. Oh, hey, Wufei." 

"We're all tired of waiting," Wufei said as he joined Heero at the front of their cell. "At least they were kind enough to group us all together now that we're out of isolation. For the record, Akira and Trowa are in the cell next to you." 

Duo paled. "Akira?"

"Yeah." Akira's voice came from where they couldn't see, but could still hear. "They found the Marquise estate. Dorothy, Mariemeia, Anne and I were all taken. That was yesterday." 

"Does anybody know what the hell is going on?" Trowa demanded angrily. "They keep asking about Neo-OZ and its purposes, but refuse to acknowledge any record of Quietus. It doesn't make sense. How could they have gotten information on Neo-OZ and completely miss anything about Quietus?" 

"Sshh," Heero hissed as the sound of the cell block doors opening echoed. A minute later, a group of guards appeared and began unlocking the cell doors. 

"Come with us," one of them said brusquely. "Your lawyers want the chance to talk to you in a group." 

"So we're being tried together?" Akira asked. 

The guards said nothing in response. Quatre shook his head, and Akira nodded in agreement. 

They were led out of the cell block and through the Earth Sphere courthouse to a rather large conference room. There were guards stationed all around the outside of this room, and their guards joined the others once they were sent into the room, the doors securely locked behind them. 

"Wufei!" Sally leaped up from her seat and ran to her husband, throwing her arms around him. Dorothy did the same with Akira, while Quatre and the other pilots took seats around the large table. Heero sat between Duo and Relena, while Wufei and Sally took seats between Mariemeia and Lady Une, and Akira and Dorothy. 

"You finally managed to get us in a meeting together?" Quatre asked Aurora, smiling at his niece. His smile faded when he saw Aurora's drawn expression. "Is something wrong?"

"They haven't kept you posted on any current developments?" Aurora asked.

"Nope," Duo said bitterly. "We're completely clueless about what the Earth Sphere is doing. Is this place secure?"

"Attorney-client privilege," Aurora said. "And just to be on the safe side, I'll be the only lawyer you'll have physical contact with for now, even though there are currently about ten of us assigned to this. And I'll be representing all of you personally. I'm sorry it took me so long to speak with you." 

"That's all right," Quatre assured her. To everyone else, "Aurora is Iria's daughter – my niece. We can trust her." 

"We'll trust your judgment, then, Quatre," Lady Une replied. She turned to Aurora. "Can you fill us in on what's been happening?"

Aurora nodded. "Unfortunately, the situation is getting worse. Two-thirds of the Preventers have been arrested due to connections with Neo-OZ. The Earth Sphere recently seized custody of the Winner Corporation, freezing all assets. And a new APB went out shortly after the Marquise estate was raiding, calling for certain suspected members of Neo-OZ to turn themselves in for questioning." 

Relena grimaced. "Let me guess. The children."

Aurora sighed. "I was at your estate, Vice Foreign Minister, with your niece, daughter, and their friend Sandra Martinez when the report went out. Don't worry, they're safe. But because of this, Cynthia won't be able to help me with this case. Cynthia, Sandra, and Katrina went with Hilde to meet Trieze and Yoshi." 

"Katrina did?" Relena looked skeptical. "She knows nothing about this."

"She does now," Aurora replied. "She was there when Cynthia and Sandra explained Neo-OZ and Quietus to me. After they meet up with Trieze, logically they'll go into hiding." 

"Hilde's smart," Duo said. "She'll want to head for the best place for them to hide. On Earth, that'd be with your sister, Trowa. The Earth Sphere still hasn't found them." 

Trowa nodded. "Catherine can keep them hidden for now." He massaged the scar near his eye, as he often did when he was worried and it began to bother him. "What about the others, Aurora? Has there been any news from my son?" 

Aurora glanced at the door, then nodded. "Yes," she said. "A message was sent to the Sank Kingdom's law firm just before I got here. It's cryptic, but I figure you'll be able to understand it." She picked up a piece of paper from the stack in front of her. "It reads: '_To our friends in custody – No worries. Everything is secure. The small one is safe. O and F are preparing to intercept. L, W, and D preparing to return. Suspicions lie with C. Hope to meet with Ms in future. Will keep in touch. Signed, your friends in truth.'" She looked at them. "Make sense?"_

Dorothy smiled. "They're good at code, I'll give them that. Anyone without a clue wouldn't be able to make sense of it. 'Everything is secure' refers to Neo-OZ Headquarters. Most likely Trente locked it down before the Winner Corporation Building was breached by the Earth Sphere." 

"I'm betting that by the 'small one', Kenji and Noir are talking about Race," Heero said with obvious relief. Duo reached for his hand and squeezed it gently, smiling at Heero. 

"The letters refer to names," Quatre added. "'O' is O'Rielly, as in Isaac O'Rielly, Trieze Isaac Kushrenada's code name. 'F' must be Meila, 'L' is Kenji, 'W' Trente, and 'D' refers to Noir, using D from Date to avoid confusion." 

"What about 'C' and 'M'?" Aurora asked curiously. "Is 'M' Cynthia or Sandra? Both their last names start with those letters." 

"I don't think it's either of them," Quatre said, frowning. "'Preparing to return' sounds like they're planning on coming to Earth. I don't know what 'preparing to intercept' means. As for the Ms…perhaps the Maguanac Corps in the Middle East. There are still several hidden bases in that area, and Trente knows the locations of all of them."

"Let's hope that's what it means," Trowa said. "That just leaves 'Suspicions lie with C'. I have to echo Aurora – who's 'C'?"

They were all silent for several minutes as they pondered it out. 'C' was obviously someone who knew enough to set this up, but also someone that it wouldn't be easy to get evidence on, or else Trente and the others would've managed to at least confirm their suspicions by this time. It'd been almost  a week since the first arrests had occurred. 

"Claire," Quatre, Dorothy, Trowa, and Akira suddenly said at the same time. 

"Aunt Claire?" Aurora looked surprised. "I don't get it." 

"She's the only other person who would know about this," Quatre said, resting his fingertips on his forehead. "She knew about Neo-OZ from the beginning, and like a fool I confided in her – until I discovered that it was she who was behind the fall-out Trowa and I had, and that she was a member of Quietus. She was secretly giving them information about Neo-OZ during the conflict. She disappeared before we could do anything, though." 

"So _that's why Mother can't even stand to hear her name," Aurora murmured. She scrawled a few notes on a piece of paper, and looked around her grimly. "I hate to say this, but I think our only chance of getting you off is taking Claire down. Is there __any information that I can take with me to begin an investigation?"_

"No one knows where Claire's been these last five years," Dorothy said. She shook her head. "This is getting more and more impossible with each passing moment." 

"And those damn detectives won't even listen to us," grumbled Wufei. "They think they know more than they do. _They weren't even alive during the Eve Wars." _

Aurora looked interested. "Which detectives?"

"Parker Reese and Lyssa Campbell," Heero replied. "They're the ones who've been interrogating us." 

"Thank God for your memory, Hee-chan," Duo said, brushing Heero's bangs out of his face. 

It was Relena who noticed the expression on Aurora's face. "What is it?" she asked with concern. 

Aurora was flipping through her papers. "Detectives Reese and Campbell aren't working this case anymore," she said. "According to my notes, they been replaced due to 'personal concerns due to the content of the case'. Did any of you say anything to them during the initial interrogations?"

"I told them to get all the facts before they made any accusations," Quatre said. He frowned. "Do you think they might have uncovered something that made them uneasy about working on this?"

"I'm not sure what I think anymore," Aurora said as she packed up her files. "But I'm going to find out. I'll come back as soon as I have more information, or within the week. Don't worry, I'll keep track of what's going on with the kids as best as I can." 

"Thanks, Aurora," Quatre said, standing up and giving his niece a kiss on her cheek. "But please, don't take too long. I'm not sure how much more of this we can stand." 

"Don't put too much faith in me, Uncle Quatre," Aurora advised. "I think our best hope lies in those kids of yours." 


	9. Underground

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Nine: Underground**

"You know, last time I checked, crashing a space shuttle in the middle of the desert was _not my idea of a good time!" _

"Kenji, shut _up." _

"I'm bleeding. You try bleeding and then tell yourself to shut up. Seriously, Trente – _not my idea of a good time!" _

Trente stopped and turned to Kenji. "Kenji. You know I love you, but please. _Shut. Up. I'm __sorry that we ended up crashing the shuttle, but we didn't have a choice. You __know that the Fuangs warned us we'd be followed. That was the best way to keep them off our backs." _

Kenji didn't look convinced. "But. I'm. _Bleeding!" _

"Good _God, you are __so Duo Maxwell's son!" Noir exploded, spinning around and grabbing his brother by the collar of his shirt. "Now shut the hell up while we try and figure out a way out of this damn desert! In case you haven't figured it out yet, we're stuck in the middle of nowhere without so much as a comlink! If you had listened to us when we told you to strap in, you wouldn't __be bleeding!" _

"Well excuse my natural reaction to plummeting headfirst through the atmosphere to be trying to get to an escape pod!" Kenji snapped back. "You and Trente didn't _tell me what you were planning!" _

Trente rolled his eyes and turned away from the arguing Lowes, turning his attention to the scenery around him. Something glinted in the sun about a mile away, and he grinned as it got closer and he recognized it. "Guys."

"_What?!" _

Trente jumped slightly. "Re_lax," he admonished. "Look. The calvary's come." _

The calvary was in the form of a Jeep that pulled to a stop a few feet in front of them. A tall burly man leaned over the driver's door. "I suppose I don't have to ask what the shuttle crash was about," Rasheed replied. 

"Rasheed!" Trente said happily, glad to see his old bodyguard. "I thought I heard you were arrested!" 

"It took them about two hours to figure out that the guy they had wasn't me," Rasheed said. "By that time, I was already on my way to the Corps base. I'm relieved to hear, though, that you children are still free."

"Have you heard anything on Sandra or Cindy?" Noir asked. "They're the only ones we haven't been in contact with."

"Ms. Marquise and Ms. Martinez are well and free, the last I heard," Rasheed told him. "We've been in contact with Hilde, who's in hiding with the two of them, Trieze Sr., and little Yoshi. Now get in. I'll take you three back to the base, and with luck we Maguanacs can aid you in any way we can." He grinned at Trente, who was already sliding into the passenger's seat. "You can't begin to understand the relief I felt when I heard you hadn't been arrested at the Winner Corporation. You do know that Abdul and Ahmed are unfortunately in custody?"

"For being over fifty, I still bet they put up a fight," Trente said, laughing. 

"Of course," Rasheed said, laughing as well as he started up the Jeep again and turned it around. 

Kenji leaned over to Noir. "You get the feeling we're being left out?"

"Possibly," Noir said sarcastically. He leaned forward so that his head was even with the back of the front seats. "So, Rasheed – how equipped is this base of yours?" 

"Very well, in fact," Rasheed replied. "Why?"

"We need to find out some information, but it might be hard to come across through legal means," Noir answered. "The better the system, the better chance we have of finding some evidence to show Quatre and the others' innocence."

Rasheed gave the young pilot a thumbs up. "I'm all for that. You'll have access to as much of our equipment as you wish."

"Arigatou, Rasheed," Trente said gratefully. "Another question. What do you know about Claire Winner?"

"Former headmistress of the Winner Academy?" Trente, Kenji, and Noir nodded. "Hmm. Well, of course Quatre-sama  told me about what she did to break up him and Trowa-sama, but personally I've only met her on a few occasions. She's always struck me as being the untrusting type – you know, someone who always seems to be plotting behind your back for her own purposes? She has a very set way of looking at the world, and detests anything that doesn't conform."

"Like my parents," Trente said. 

"That's one," Rasheed agreed. "But even before Quatre-sama and Trowa-sama became involved she had a problem with her brother. She didn't believe the heir to the Winner fortune should be going off and fighting a war himself." 

"Because of the Winner family's pacifistic ideals?" Kenji asked, leaning forward and resting his arms on the top of Trente's seat.

Rasheed looked thoughtful. "I don't think that was it," he said after a moment, shaking his head. "Quatre-sama told me on several occasions that Claire and the elder Winner, Quatre-sama's father, were always at odds on the pacifist point. Claire wanted their father to take a side in the conflict between the colonies and OZ – Winner-san was adamant about staying neutral. With Quatre-sama, I think Claire would've been happier if he had paid someone to fight for him, rather than fight himself."

"So Claire likes the idea of getting other people to do the dirty work," Noir murmured. "That seems to fit with what we were saying earlier, about her having a partner in this – and one who knows computers."

"Claire was connected to Quietus as well, wasn't she?" Rasheed asked. "So perhaps her partner in all of this might be, too." 

The three pilots looked at each other. "You know, none of us really thought about that," Kenji said sheepishly.  

The older man just shook his head. "Kids." Then he reached across the dashboard and pressed a small button in the middle of the it. 

The ground began to shake, and a huge sand dune rose up in front of them. From the top of the dune a huge metal platform broke free from the sand, and when the sand had finished falling back into the ground, the gaping hole of one of the Maguanac underground entrances stood before them.

"Cool," breathed Kenji and Noir. Trente wasn't fazed at all, as he'd seen it before, plenty of times. 

Rasheed drove straight into the entrance, and it closed up behind them. 

The road led into what had once been a Mobile Suit hanger, but was now used to house cars, trucks, a couple of planes, and a row of motorcycles. The Jeep was parked near another door that led out of the hanger and into the main base. Trente, Kenji, and Noir followed Rasheed through that door.  

Most of the base seemed to be deserted. When asked about it, Rasheed merely said that everyone was on their guard, and that while he was absolutely sure that everyone on the base was loyal to Quatre, the less people who knew the three were there, the better. 

"You can work in here," he said after leading them through several winding corridors and unlocking a door. He pushed the door open to reveal several computers, faxes, a telephone, a vidphone, a television, and a massive tape recorder. 

"Whoa," breathed Kenji, eyes wide in awe. "Check this out. Where'd it come from?"

"How do you think Neo-OZ got most of its information?" Trente asked, grinning. "Thanks, Rasheed."

"I'll check up on you every once in awhile," the older Maguanac promised. "There's a First Aid kit in that cupboard over there. Good luck."

Noir walked over to the aforementioned cupboard and located said kit. "Trente, why don't you start booting up some of this equipment while I take care of Crybaby over here." Kenji stuck his tongue out at him. "Act your age."

The MegaWing pilot pouted. "Don' _wanna." _

Trente just rolled his eyes and sat down at the nearest computer. While he waited for it to start, he casually flipped on the television and tuned it to a news station. 

"_While several of the suspects on the Earth Sphere A.P.B have been apprehended, still missing are Trente Winner-Barton, Kenji Lowe, Noir Lowe, Meila Fuang, Trieze Isaac Kushrenada, Cynthia Marquise, and Sandra Martinez. The authorities would like us to note that these individuals are only__ wanted for questioning at this time." _

"Sure," Noir said sarcastically. "Until you've got us handcuffed and decide to charge us with something. Screw you, lady."

"Noir," Trente admonished lightly. 

"_Also in connection to this case, a trial date has been set for those individuals currently in custody. A hearing to determine the course of action and the charges to be addressed will take place on February 1st, a week and a half from today. When asked what they believe their chances are, lead defense council Aurora Armina replied, 'I make no promises at this time, nor any speculations. My fellow lawyers and I are just going to do our best to make certain that the truth is heard.'_

_"In other news, a newspaper in L5 was put on probation recently after publishing malicious information based on speculation. This action was brought against the publication by a prominent businessman whose name is not known at this time." _

Kenji let out a whoop. "All right, Mr. Fuang!" 

"Those articles were just disgusting," Trente said, shuddering. He sighed and put the television on mute. "Okay, guys. We've got exactly a week and a half to dig up enough information to convince a judge that these charges are bogus. Let's get to work." 


	10. Connections

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 225**

**Chapter Ten: Connections**

The apartment was dark, the only light emanating from a muted television set standing between two overcrowded bookcases. Light fixtures were turned off, and window shades were closed. Books and clothes were strewn around the living room, dirty dishes were piled in the kitchen, and the only sound was the clacking of a computer keyboard coming from behind the half-closed bedroom door. 

_Knock, knock._

Detective Parker Reese groaned at the unexpected intrusion. Nobody knew he was home – all of his co-workers thought he was out of town on vacation – so who the hell could be pounding on his door at eight o' clock at night? 

_Knock! Knock!_

With the knocking getting more insistent, Parker had no choice but to save his file and answer the door before whoever it was knocked it down by accident. He undid the chain and opened the door slightly. "Yes?"

"Parker Reese?" a woman's voice with a slight accent inquired. 

"That's me." He opened the door wider so that he could see the woman more clearer, and frowned slightly. "You look familiar…"

"My name is Aurora Armina," she introduced herself. "I'm the council representative in the case against Quatre Raberba Winner and Co. I'd like to speak with you."

Parker sighed and ran his fingers through disheveled hair. "All right, whatever." He stepped aside so that she could enter the apartment. "Sorry for the mess, Ms. Armina."

"Please, call me Aurora," Aurora asked him, smiling. She glanced around the apartment inquisitively. "I have to admit, I'm relieved that you're here after all. Your precinct said that both you and your partner were taking some vacation time, and when I tried to get in contact with her, I was told she was out of town."

"Yeah, Lyssa's checking up on some leads for this one case we've been working off and on," Parker said, shrugging. "I was supposed to go with her, but I canceled at the last minute." 

"A different case than the one against my clients?" Aurora asked. 

"Yeah," Parker replied. He looked at her suspiciously. "What exactly are you looking for here, by the way?"

"I just want some questions answered," she assured him. "May we sit down?"

He motioned to the couch, then settled himself on a chair opposite it. "I have to tell you, first off, that I'm not permitted to discuss the case with you outside of legal channels."

"I'm not interested in anything you uncovered while working on the investigation," Aurora assured him. "I am curious though, about why a detective of your qualifications was suddenly pulled from the case and replaced by a set of while older, less experienced, detectives." 

Parker sighed. "Yeah, I figured that might have something to do with it," he confessed. "You want the truth?"

She nodded. 

"I love my job, Aurora," Parker said. "I love everything about being a detective – hell, I even love the pay, and there aren't a hell of a lot of cops who can say that. But the one thing I don't love is the fact that not every officer is as infatuated with his position as I am. If there's one thing worse than a criminal, it's a crooked cop. 

"I wasn't pulled from the case. Neither was Lyssa. We resigned from it." 

Aurora looked surprised, although not as much as the detective had thought she would. She nodded slightly, almost to herself, before asking her question. "Why?"

Parker sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Something about the way the interrogations were going didn't make me comfortable," he said, shrugging. "I think it started after Lyssa and I started after Quatre Winner." He shook his head ruefully. "That was one cool, calm, and collected man. He didn't seem at all phased by the fact that he was under suspicion of war crimes against humanity." 

"That's Quatre," agreed Aurora. "He never worries about himself. I grew up hearing about how he always put others first, and always tried to protect his friends by taking all the burden himself. My mother used to say that if he could get away with it, he'd blame himself for the fact that there's no air in space." 

He looked at her inquisitively. "You sound like you know him well. Have you been his lawyer before?"

"I'm his niece," Aurora replied. "Since the Earth Sphere froze all of the Winner Corporation's assets, not to mention arrested most of the company lawyers, I stepped up to lead the defense. Anyway, you were saying?"

Parker nodded. "During our first interrogation with him, Quatre suggested that the reason Lyssa and I didn't understand what he was saying – and mind you, he wasn't saying much – was because we didn't have all the information. He kept trying to tell us about this group called Quietus, but none of our files had anything by that name in them. Then he told us to get the facts before assuming we knew anything – then you walked in, and my partner and I left.

"But those words continued to bother me, to the point where I got suspicious." Parker sighed and raked his fingers through his unruly brown hair. "I could get in big trouble for telling you this."

"No one will hear it from me," Aurora promised. "And I won't use any of it in court. I just need something to figure out where to go with this." 

He looked doubtful, then shrugged. "Oh, well. I was thinking of taking up private investigating after all of this, anyway." He leaned forward and looked her straight in the eye. "None of our evidence was uncovered by our precinct, Aurora."

"Then how did you get it?" she asked.

"Lyssa and I asked the commissioner the same question," Parker said. "His response basically inferred that it was none of our goddamn business, although he used much bigger words and it was much more polite than that. That's when Lyssa and I pulled out of the case. I wasn't comfortable working a case where it felt like I was just a puppet."

"Does your partner feel the same way?" Aurora wanted to know.

He shrugged. "She wasn't really talkative about her view," he said. "But when I pulled out, she did. Now she's out of town working on another case, and I'm here trying to hack into the Earth Sphere's files."

That got a reaction from Aurora. "What? You're a hacker?"

Parker grinned sheepishly. "Yeah," he said. "I'm lucky nobody's found out yet." 

This seemed to endear Parker to Aurora further. "Detective," she said, the seed of an idea forming in her mind, "you mentioned that you were thinking of going into private investigation. How'd you like to get a head start?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Depends." 

"You hackers have a certain code, don't you?" she continued. He nodded. "'Don't step on my toes, I won't step on yours.' As a result, you must know the names of several well-known hackers." 

"Their tags, yeah," Parker agreed. 

She smiled. "Are you familiar with TKRose?" 

Parker nearly choked on his water as his eyes widened at the name. "Who _doesn't?" he managed. "TKRose is __only the best hacker in circulation right now! He's right up there with WingZero and NMW." _

Aurora's smile got larger. "What if I were to tell you that not only is TKRose working this case, but NMW as well? And that WingZero is connected to it?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I'd think you were either teasing me, or you're on the right side after all. Any hacker worth his salt knows that those three have never done anything completely against the law. Hell, they hack for the pure enjoyment of hacking – I remember one time when NMW hacked into the ESPD's mainframe, and then told us about it so we could beef up our security." He tapped the arm of his chair. "Spill." 

"TKRose and NMW are members of Neo-OZ," Aurora replied. "At this time, you won't be given their true identities yet. WingZero, unfortunately, _won't be lending his expertise – he's in custody right now. Heero Yuy."_

Parker groaned. "Oh, I should have figured that out." He sighed and shook his head. "Okay, Aurora. I'm all yours. What do you want me to do?" 

Aurora smiled. 

*****

"I've got a love-e-ly bunch of coconuts, deedly, deedly, there they are a-standing in a row, bum, bum, bum, big ones, small ones –" 

"—if you don't shut up I'll kill you." Kenji and Noir glared at each other. 

"You two are a riot," Trente commented as he looked through several printouts that Kenji had made. "But seriously – Noir, you can't sing. Don't try." 

Noir stuck his tongue out at the Heatseeker pilot.

"Oh, yeah, _that's mature," Kenji teased. Noir picked up a nearby stapler and held it up threateningly. _

Trente sighed. "Please, you two. All kidding aside, I'm not in the mood for this. We're all going a little stir crazy in here." 

"Damn straight," muttered Kenji, turning back to his computer. "Hey, Noir, do me a favor. Rasheed said he was going to get some of the Maguanac's information on Quietus – go get it, would you?" 

"Yeah, yeah, sure, anything to get out of this room." Noir stood up from his seat so fast that the chair rolled backwards and hit the opposite wall, and practically flew out of the room. 

Kenji chuckled softly. "You know, I'm not even sure if he knows where Rasheed is. And knowing him, he'll take his dear sweet time finding out." 

"You were a little obvious," Trente said, sliding his arms around Kenji and leaning over his shoulder. "Find anything yet?"

"I didn't get him out of here to talk about work," Kenji complained. 

Trente turned his head to the side and kissed him deeply. He pulled away when Kenji tried to pull him around the chair. "As much as I'd love to enjoy this, I think we've got mail."

Kenji looked blankly at the computer screen, then groaned. "_I-saac!" he whined, calling up the video image. "What do you want?" _

Isaac grinned mischievously. "Hope I wasn't interrupting anything," he said. 

"Omae o korosu," growled Kenji. "Get on with it."

"Sir!" was the mocking reply. Then he laughed to show he was kidding. "Meila and I are about an hour away from docking with Peacemillion 2. Also, check your coding. I took a look and it seems someone's following your trail. Find out who it is. Tag's Foxcroft." 

"Thanks for checking in," Trente said. "Contact us again when you're on P2." 

"Will do," Isaac replied. But he hesitated slightly. "Guys? Have you heard from…?" 

"Sorry," Trente said, shaking his head. "But there's been no word of their arrest, so I'm sure they're okay. Ja ne, Isaac."

"Ja," Isaac replied, and the screen went blank.

Kenji sighed. "So. Should I find out who this Foxcroft guy is?" 

"At least send him a note or something," Trente said. 

Kenji backtracked through the computer code and located the known tag fairly easy. He typed up a quick message and fired it off. "Let's see how long it takes him to notice."

It didn't take long as all. About thirty seconds later, they had a reply. 

**Foxcroft here. NMW?**

Kenji glanced at Trente, then leaned over and started typing. 

_Yes. How'd you get on this trail? I triple-coded it._

**And I broke it. I had a little help, though. Aurora Armina. **

Trente squeezed Kenji's shoulder. "That's my cousin," he told him. 

_So Aurora recruited you? You're pretty good._

**That means a lot, coming from you. At any rate, I've been looking at some of the routes you've been taking, and I'd like to offer my assistance. I've been busy checking up on the Earth Sphere – I'd like you to trust me with that, and you can concentrate on some other leads. **

_Sounds like a plan. But we can't communicate normally. I'm not ready to give out my location._

**Neither am I. We can upload files through the line that this communication opened, and check in with each other that way. It should be an easy thing for a hacker like yourself to do.**

_You flatter me. Thanks, Foxcroft. _

**Hope to hear from you, NMW. Good luck.**

_You, too._

The transmission ceased, and Kenji leaned back and looked up at Trente. "That was interesting," he said. "I really hope we can trust him."

"He wouldn't have thrown out Aurora's name if there wasn't some connection," Trente replied. "There's a reason she uses the name Armina instead of Winner, even though her parents divorced years ago and her mother got custody." 

"The same reason I use the name Lowe instead of Yuy or Maxwell," Kenji replied, nodding. "I understand." He sighed and turned away from the computer screen. "How long do you think it'll take Noir to get back?" he asked, looking up at Trente hopefully. 

Trente smiled. "Long enough."

*****

"Thanks for the info, Rasheed," Noir said, taking the printouts from the large Maguanac. "Sorry about all the trouble."

Rasheed just shook his head. "It's fine," he said, waving it off. "But next time you can't find me, keep this in mind: I'm not usually hiding in our cafeteria kitchen. If you were that hungry, you could've just asked."

"Just trying to keep a low profile," replied the Shinigami pilot, grinning mischievously. He opened the folder and removed a sheet of paper. "Known Quietus operatives. Hey, this is great, Rasheed."

"Maybe, maybe not," Rasheed replied. "Most of them are dead. They were stationed on the Mars Base when it was destroyed." 

"Gives us a place to start, at least," Noir said. "Maybe there's a clue to who Claire's associate is." 

"Good luck," Rasheed called as Noir stepped out of his office and into the hall. 

Noir glanced at a clock on the wall. _I'll give Trente and Kenji a few more minutes, he thought as he slowed his pace to a casual walk. He hadn't been fooled at all by his adopted brother's attempts to get him out of the room. While he walked, he began glancing over the list that he'd pulled from the printouts. _

_Santos, Herman. Bruno, Dawn. Sinclair, Shawn. Carroll, Stephan. Mai Ling, Su. Chiba, Makoto. McTash, Cyrus. Campbell, Riley. Campbell, Maria. Campbell, Thomas._

Noir frowned. "Three Campbells," he muttered. "Man, if they were all related, I could imagine any of their relatives wanting revenge. Hmm. Intriguing." He slid the paper back into the folder and began to head back to the room.

Then he stopped. 

"Wait a minute," he said, frowning. He spun around and hurried back to Rasheed's office. "Yo, Rasheed."

Rasheed looked up at him. "What is it?" he asked.

"You've been following the news reports," Noir said. "Do you remember the names of the original detectives on the case? I only caught their names once, and that was when we saw a broadcast stating that they'd been replaced." 

Rasheed checked a notepad in front of him. "Let's see…here. Parker Reese and Lyssa Campbell. Why?" He looked up, and blinked.

Noir was already out the door and running back to the room. ****


	11. Road Trip

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Eleven: Road Trip**

The door to the convenience store opened, and a young woman wearing a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses walked in. She didn't look at anyone as she walked along the aisles, filling a basket with drinks and food. She didn't say anything as the purchases were rung up and she paid with cash. Then she took her bag outside and slid into a car, and removed her hat and sunglasses as the driver drove out of the parking lot and back onto the highway. 

"Phew," Cindy said, shaking out her long blonde hair. "Next time, someone else can go." She tossed the hat over her shoulder into the backseat. 

"Hey!" Sandra pulled the hat off of her shoulder and tossed it back further, into the very back of the station wagon. "Watch where you're throwing that stuff." 

"Can I go next time, Cindy?" a young voice from beside Sandra piped up.

Hilde glanced back into the backseat through the rearview mirror. "Don't even think about it, Yoshi Koto," she said. "Your parents would skin me alive." 

Trieze Kushrenada picked up Cindy's discarded hat and plopped it down on the five-year-old's, who was sitting on his lap, head. "We have to do something about this little guy," he said, sighing. "It's too dangerous now." 

"I know," Cindy agreed. "But what can we do?" She looked at Hilde. "How much longer do you think we have?"

Hilde bit her lip. "The circus passed through that last town about five days ago – if we keep driving,  nonstop, we'll hopefully catch up to them in a day or two, provided they stop for another show. We'll hole up with Catherine for awhile, and see if she has any ideas." 

"Are you sure she's still with the circus?" Trieze couldn't help asking as he gently pushed Yoshi's hand away from the exposed wires on his wrist. "And do you think they'll have a good electrician? I've lost feeling in my lower arm."

"The joys of being a cyborg," Sandra muttered, then blushed when she realized that she'd spoken aloud _and that she'd been heard. "Sorry." _

"I'm sure they do," Hilde said. "And yes, she's still with the circus, or at least she was at Christmas. I got a card from her. Catherine's been with the circus since she was a child – I suspect she'll be with them for her entire life. The same would've been true for Trowa if he hadn't found Quatre again. Those two were born for performing." 

"Speaking of Quatre and Trowa, not to mention everyone else, I'm getting a little worried," Cindy said as she ran a brush through her long hair. "We haven't heard anything on the radio about any new developments, good or bad. And there's still been no mention of Quietus, which strikes me as a little odd. Don't you think _someone would've uncovered something by now? They __have to be doing a little investigating of their own."_

"Unless the ones doing the investigating are in Quietus' pocket," Trieze said darkly. Cindy turned around in her seat to look at him. "The base may have been destroyed, but not all of Quietus' operatives were there. Claire Winner, for one. And there's quite a list of others." 

"You wouldn't happen to remember those names, would you?" Sandra glanced at him curiously. "Just in case." 

Trieze tapped the side of his head. "Among other things, I'm fully equipped with a photographic memory," he said. "I can write them down at the next stop. Yoshi, stop that. Leave Uncle Trieze's circuit board alone, please." 

Then, from the very back, another voice finally spoke up. "I'll take him, Mr. Kushrenada."

Cindy glanced at Hilde in surprise, but Trieze willing handed Yoshi over the back of the seat and placed him securely in Katrina's arms. Surprisingly, Relena's daughter hadn't put up a fuss when it'd been her turn to take the far back seat in the car. Cindy was grateful – Katrina could be a real pill when she wanted to be, which was often. 

The group fell silent for awhile, Yoshi and Katrina both taking naps in the back while Hilde, Cindy, and Sandra switched off drivers for awhile. Trieze played navigator, as he had an excellent sense of direction and couldn't risk being in the driver's seat for fear of recognition. It was one thing to be recognized because there was a warrant out for you – it was another to be recognized because you're supposed to be dead. 

Unfortunately, they still had several hours of driving in which to get on each others' nerves. 

And boy, did they. 

As an unwritten rule, whoever was sitting in the driver's seat got to control the sound system. Cindy had an affinity for loud, obnoxious sounds that the adults couldn't even begin to call music. And she played them loudly, which annoyed Trieze a great deal because he was sitting next to the speakers and had extremely sensitive hearing. 

At the next rest stop, Hilde and Cindy switched as drivers, and Hilde moved to the back to watch Yoshi. Sandra and Katrina argued over who would get the relative roomy passengers seat, only to discover that it had been commandeered by Trieze while they'd been playing Rock, Paper, Scissors over it, leaving the two of them wedged in the middle seat with various pieces of luggage (read: weapons), trash, and a stain in the middle that no one cared to explain the cause of. 

Trieze, being completely bored, channel-surfed the radio, driving Cindy and everyone else crazy. He ignored them when they commanded him to pick a station and stick with it. 

In the next town they lost their way trying to find their exit, resulting in a babble of helpful and conflicting suggestions that drove Cindy, as soon as she found the right road, to pull into the nearest 7-Eleven and demand that someone else drive. 

Katrina took over as the driver, and everyone soon forgot their troubles and began worrying about their lunches as she decided to play tag with a car she claimed belonged to a cousin of some guy who was the son of a friend of her father's assistant, and who was constantly trying to bug her for a date. When asked why such a guy would be in _this part of the country, Katrina merely shrugged and replied, "Okay, maybe it's not him. But that looks enough like his car that I get mad just thinking about it!" _

Sandra, now sitting in the passengers seat (with Cindy with Yoshi, and the two reasonably sane adults in the middle seat), put in a CD and played opera the entire time, out of sheer perversity. Cindy muttered that she was spending too much time around Isaac, and Hilde very calmly put a gun to Sandra's head and told her that if she didn't stop now, she would never make it to the circus. 

When they switched off for the last time, it was nightfall, and Sandra happily drove in silence while everyone else fell asleep. That is, until Yoshi, who had slept all day, decided now would be the perfect time to begin screaming the Barney theme song at the top of his lungs. 

By the time the main circus tent loomed into view in the next town, the entire group was just about ready to strangle each other. Sandra pulled the vehicle up to the circus gate and calmly told the attendant that they wanted to see Catherine Bloom. The attendant asked to see I.D., and didn't flinch when she saw the name on Sandra's driver's license. (Ironically, this happened to be the very same gate attendant Quatre had encountered five years earlier when he had come to retrieve Trente from the circus. Apparently, she _still didn't pay much attention to the world around her, despite the fact that the names of the car's occupants were plastered all over the media). _

Following the attendant's instructions, it was no problem finding Catherine's trailer, and they pulled up in front of it in a matter of minutes. Hilde got out first and made her way to the door, knocking twice. 

The door opened, and Catherine immediately threw her arms around Hilde and hugged her in greeting. "I saw you pull up," she said. "I'm so glad to see you're safe! Come in, come in!" 

Catherine was introduced to Katrina, and Sandra and Cindy were both subjected to huge hugs as well. She was a little more polite with Trieze – a firm shake of the hand was enough – and immediately went to the kitchen to get Yoshi some cotton candy she 'just happened to have lying around'. "Does anyone know you're here?" she asked as she handed the cotton candy to Yoshi and motioned for everyone to sit down.

"No," Hilde said, shaking her head. "We had to leave quickly. Although now that we're here, may I use your phone? I need to check in with Rasheed."

Catherine looked confused. "But I heard he was arrested, along with Relena."

"Mistaken identity," Hilde said, grinning. "Another Maguanac played cover for him. Rasheed's at the Maguanac's base in Neo-Arabia." 

She was handed the phone, and immediately dialed up. 

"How long were you on the road?" Catherine asked as Hilde focused on her phone call. 

"Too long," Katrina, Cindy, Sandra, and Trieze answered simultaneously. "If I ever see another convenience store, it will be too soon," Cindy added. 

"We've been living off of junk food for the past few days," Katrina explained. 

"Has anyone bothered you here, Ms. Catherine?" Sandra couldn't help asking.

Catherine shook her head. "No. The circus is always moving, and everyone here is fiercely loyal to Trowa. No one would betray his trust, let alone mine." She looked at Trieze. "I was sorry to hear that Anne and Mariemeia were arrested," she said. "I'm sorry."

"They'll be fine," Trieze replied. "But the sooner we can figure out what's going on, the better. Speaking of which, I should write down those names like I promised." He looked around for a pad of paper, and began writing as soon as he found one. At the same time, Hilde said good-bye to whoever was on the other end of the phone and hung up. 

"Well," she said, coming over to join them again. "Guess who I just spoke to?"

"Rasheed?" Cindy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hilde shook her head. "Kenji."

Katrina looked at her eagerly. "Kenji? Really? Is he okay? What's he doing there? Is he worried about me?" 

Cindy kicked Sandra's leg when she noticed her friends' nails digging into the arm of Catherine's couch.

Hilde just smiled tolerantly. _She'll find out soon enough, she thought. "He's fine," she said. "He, Trente, and Noir are all safe at the Maguanac base."_

"Trente?!" Cindy and Sandra yelped. "They're talking again?"

"Apparently," Hilde said with amusement. She nodded to Catherine. "Trente's fine, too. They've had a couple of leads, though." 

"Like what?" Trieze asked, not taking his eyes off the paper but still participating in the discussion. 

"They're pretty much convinced that Claire is the mastermind behind this," Hilde answered. "They're also certain that she's not in it alone, judging from the evidence they've located. Some hacker calling himself Foxcroft is searching through the Earth Sphere files – apparently Aurora recruited him."

"Way to go, Aurora," Cindy murmured. "And Isaac and Meila? Anything on them?"

"Last Kenji heard, they were rendezvousing with Peacemillion 2."

"Why would they be going to Peacemillion 2?" Catherine, Katrina, and Trieze asked at the same time. 

Sandra and Cindy, on the other hand, let out a loud whoop that startled Yoshi into dropping his cotton candy stick (fortunately, that was all that was left), and hugged each other happily. "All right, Mei!" Sandra cheered. "Good thinking!" 

"I'm confused," Catherine complained.

Hilde grinned. "We left something very important on Peacemillion 2 – but only a few people know it. Trieze doesn't even know, right, Trieze?"

"Know what?" 

"The Neo-Gundams are inside Peacemillion 2's hanger." 

Three pairs of eyes widened, three jaws dropped, and Yoshi started begging for a glass of juice. 

While Catherine obliged, Hilde turned to Cindy and Sandra. "Kenji suggested that we might not want to stay on Earth. The Fuangs have offered up their home in L5 as a refuge, and Isaac and Meila can meet us there. Anyone not up for the trip –" here she looked at Katrina – "I'm sure can stay here with Catherine."

"Everyone's welcome," Catherine called from the kitchen. "Especially Yoshi."

"Thanks, Cathy," Hilde called back. "But he's coming with us. Lotus and Race are already on L5, and I'm sure Yoshi would be much happier with his two best friends then with a bunch of us old folks."

"Lotus and Race!" Yoshi cried happily. "Where? Where?" 

Trieze laughed and ruffled his hair. "Not yet, little one," he said. He looked at Hilde. "It sounds like a good plan. There's just one problem?"

"What?" 

He picked up the remote control and turned on the television. Once again, the faces of the Neo-Pilots were flickering across the screen. "How are we supposed to get to L5…without getting arrested?" 


	12. Vendetta

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Twelve: Vendetta**

The room was dark. The shades were drawn, and the only faint light came from the computer screen in the corner. Upon her entrance, she was immediately struck with how _feral the entire apartment was, as if a wild animal lived there. Papers, several of them slashed by something extremely sharp, were strewn across the floor. A series of photographs were pinned up on the farthest wall, eleven knives sticking out of eleven faces. A shiver went down her back, but she stepped forward and closed the door anyway. _

"I'm here."

"I know," a deep, accented voice said from nearby. She turned to face the speaker. He was a tall man, with shaggy red hair and dark green eyes that glinted with dangerous intent. He work a sleeveless shirt, so his tattoo of Quietus' insignia was visible for all to see.

"Are you sure that's wise?" she asked. "It could be dangerous, walking around with that in plain sight." 

"I hardly leave this room," the man answered. He folded his arms across his chest. "So. I trust you had a safe trip?"

"Quit the pleasantries," she snapped. "You and I both know you don't want me here, and I don't particularly want to _be here. Got it, Cyrus?"_

Cyrus McTash just smirked at her. "I understand perfectly, Ms. Campbell. Now, shall we get to work? What do you have for me today?"

Lyssa removed her jacket and dropped it onto a nearby chair. "The Earth Sphere hasn't caught on to me right now," she said. "As soon as I realized Quatre Winner wasn't going to talk about anything valuable, I persuaded my partner to file for severance from the case, and we got vacation time as a reward for our work up until then. Don't worry, I made sure that our replacements were some of ours." 

"It was a mistake, allowing you to be paired with a non-member," Cyrus sneered as he sat down in front of his computer. "Although I did wonder why you never approached him as a possibility."

"Because he wasn't," Lyssa responded shortly. "Parker has too many morals. Just the sort of fool who'd want to join Neo-OZ, actually." 

"Speaking of which, any new information on the location of the Neo-Gundams?"

"Negative." She leaned against the wall, being careful of the knives. "I think Ms. Winner is baring up the wrong tree on that one. Even if we were to _find the Neo-Gundams, what exactly are we supposed to do with them? From what I've heard, they're specially designed for only one pilot." _

"A mistake that will bring about Quatre Winner's downfall, I assure you." Cyrus leaned back in his chair and stared at the picture of the millionaire on the wall, a knife perfectly embedded between his eyes. "Those kids robbed me of everything. _Everything. I was __nothing after the Eve Wars, after my mother was killed and I was left to starve. I managed to get a small bit of revenge, but what good is revenge if they don't know I'm the one giving it?" He clenched his fists angrily. "Mark my words, they will pay. I'll slit each and every one of their throats for what they did to Quietus, and I'll enjoy it, too."_

"You like pain, don't you?" Lyssa asked quietly.

A dangerous smile appeared on his face, and he turned to look at her. "Pain," he said, "has been the only consistent thing in my life."

The two of them regarded each other for a moment, and then slowly, Lyssa nodded. "Well, I should be going." She picked up her coat and headed for the door. Then she paused. "By the way, Cyrus…she's being held in Block C, if you were curious. Solitude. They're hoping to break her on his whereabouts."

Cyrus didn't turn to look at her, but as she walked away, Lyssa could picture the smile on his face, his eyes narrowed as he contemplated that small piece of information.

Cyrus McTash was a dangerous man, but he did have his priorities. And Lyssa had a feeling he'd be visiting one of those priorities very, very soon.

The phone rang. Cyrus picked up it. 

"_It's time." _

He grinned. "Yes." 

*****

_Anne. Trieze. Father. I hope you're all okay._

Mariemeia Kushrenada lay on the bed pressed up against one of the walls her cell, staring at the ceiling in thought. She thought about her adopted mother, who was being held in another cell block and whom she'd only seen a couple times since being brought to the Earth Sphere's High-Security Prison. She thought about her father, who had managed to elude detection so far, even though it meant she had no way of knowing where he was. And she thought of her son, also eluding capture, no doubt doing his absolute best to get her and everyone else out safely. She had great faith in him, knew that he was capable of great things. She bit her lip as he came to mind, and tears threatened to fall. 

_I should have told him, she thought. __No matter how terrible the truth, I should've told him about his father. She clutched the sheets tightly in her fists. "Damn you," she hissed. "Damn you to hell. I hope you're dead."_

"I assume…you mean me, Meia?" 

Mariemeia gasped at the voice, and sat up to look at the cell bars. There, leaning against them casually as if he had just happened to walk by, was none other than former Preventers intelligence agent Cyrus McTash. 

"How did you get in here?" Mariemeia asked, her voice hoarse with anger. 

"Oh, come now, Meia," Cyrus said, turning to face her through the bars, casually looping his arms through them and leaning against them. "Is that any way to talk to your old lover?"

"Like hell," she spat. "You and I were never lovers, no matter what your sick, twisted mind conjures up."

A cruel smile appeared on his face. "Oh, really? Is that what you've decided to believe?"

"It's the truth!" 

His eyes narrowed. "Is that what you told your son?"

Mariemeia's face paled, and she bit her lip to keep from reacting. _He's trying to bait you! Just make sure he stays on that side of the bars, and you'll be fine. "You leave Trieze out of this." _

"Trieze, Trieze, Trieze." Cyrus rolled his eyes. "You always did worship that dead father of yours too much. Poor Mariemeia, raised to live on in his shadow. I was the only one who could see you for who you really were, Meia." He smiled at her. "And of course, you saw me for who I was. We were perfect for each other."

"You're deranged," spat Mariemeia. "How can you even say that? We barely spoke to each other, Cyrus!" Tears sprang to her eyes. "_The only time we were even in the same room for more than ten minutes was when you raped me!" _

"_Shut up!" shouted Cyrus. "Don't go feeding me the same trash you told Lady Une! You got me fired and kicked out of the Preventers – when __you were the one who seduced __me!" _

_My God, he's insane, Mariemeia thought. She heard a rattling noise, and saw that he was at the lock to the cell, and was attempting to pick it up. __No! _

Taking a deep breath, she let loose with an ear-shattering scream. 

Cyrus stepped back away from the lock and looked at her with wide eyes. "Don't scream," he whispered. "They'll hear you." 

Footsteps and voices could now be heard, running in their direction. Mariemeia stopped screaming, her voice going hoarse. "They'll find you," she said. "They'll find you and lock you away for what you did." 

"I don't think so." A for a moment, sanity seemed to come back to the man as he reached under his shirt and removed a gun. He turned to the door leading into the cell block, and laughed as the door opened. 

*****

_BANG!_

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the cellblocks, startling everyone into silence. Quatre and Duo looked at each other, and then simultaneously ran to the bars. "Guards!" Quatre shouted. "Guards!" 

One of them came running. "What do you want?" he growled. 

"What's going on?" Duo demanded. "We heard a scream…and then gunfire!" 

The guard scowled. "We're checking it out now. Relax – it's got nothing to do with you. It came from the solitary cells." 

"Mariemeia's there!" Akira exclaimed from the next cell over. "Is she all right?"

"I _said we were checking it out," growled the guard. "Now __stop bothering me!" He spun on his heel and turned to march back the way he came._

A hand snapped out of the cell across from Quatre and Duo's, and grabbed the guard's shirt. "Listen up," Heero said, his voice smooth and dangerous. "You are going to find out if Mariemeia Kushrenada is okay. And then you are going to tell us what happened. If you don't, I will personally make your life very miserable. Understand," he glanced at the name on the guard's uniform, "Iwaaki?" 

The guard gulped audibly, and nodded. Heero released him, and glared at him to get moving. He ran out of the block. 

"That might just get us in more trouble," Trowa said calmly. "Although I was about to the same thing." 

Heero shrugged, then winced as he shifted his weight to his bad leg. "Mariemeia just better be okay, that's all I'm saying," he said. "They were nuts to put her in solitary in the first place." 

Iwaaki sprinted towards the solitary confinement, and found trouble when he got there. "What's going on?" he asked the nearest police officer. 

The officer shook his head. "It happened fast," he said. "Someone broke into the cellblock and took out the first guards on duty. Then he tried to break out the prisoner in Cell D. When the next guard shift found the other bodies, they immediately went to the Cell, but they were gunned down when they got there. By the time we arrived, it was too late, and the intruder and the prisoner were gone." 

Iwaaki paled. "Which prisoner?"

The officer looked at his partner. "Mariemeia Kushrenada," his partner said. He shook his head. "I guess those high-profile types will do anything to get out of the prison, huh?" 

"We heard screams in the next cell block," Iwaaki said. "Are you sure that she wasn't taken against her will? Shouldn't you check the security cameras?"

"Of course we'll check them," was the reply. "But who would want to resist being let out of prison. If you ask me, this was just an attempt to break out those Neo-OZ nutcases we've got locked up here." The first officer frowned. "We'll take care of things here – shouldn't you be getting back to your prisoners?"

Iwaaki gulped, and nodded. He headed back. _Those guys are going to kill me, he thought miserably. He reached for the door, and paused. "Hey…" _

His eyes widened. 

There, scrawled in spray paint on the inside of the door, was a giant letter **Q. **

_I know that symbol!_

Iwaaki turned around. "Hey, Officer! You should take a look at –" 

_PHWIT!_

The officer turned around to look at Iwaaki, and stared at the now dead body in shock. "What the hell is going on here?!" 

*****

"_We interrupt this program for an emergency broadcast in regards to the current Earth Sphere situation." _

Catherine paused, a piece of food on its way to her mouth, at the sudden announcement. She glanced at Hilde and raised her eyebrows. Hilde motioned for her to be quiet. 

"_Approximately one hour ago, an unknown agent broke into the Earth Sphere's Maximum Security Prison. The agent murdered the guards on duty in the solitary confinement block, and then escaped with one of the prisoners, Mariemeia Kushrenada, daughter of the late OZ leader, Trieze Kushrenada.. All that was left behind was the mark of the letter **Q painted on the door. **_

_"Police were unable to find any clues to the agent's name, but were able to retrieve his picture from the security cameras." A screenshot flashed onto the television. __"If you have any information on the identity of this man, or the location of Ms. Kushrenada, please call 555-1211." _

The entire group turned as one to look at Trieze, who was sitting there, a stunned look on his face. "Trieze?" Hilde asked with concern. "Are you okay?"

All at once, the stunned expression melted away into a mixture of several others, worry, anger, and fear included. He leaned forward and rested his hands on his head. "I know that man," he said, and for once he looked and sounded his age. "His name is Cyrus McTash. He's a former member of the Preventers who joined Quietus after he was dismissed, due to allegations of rape and abuse. The charges were dropped when he disappeared off the face of the Earth, and Quietus snapped him up. He's a dangerous agent, and carries a vendetta against the Kushrenada name." He closed his eyes, as if in concentration. "The girl he raped – I almost blew my cover the day I discovered that. It was Mariemeia." 

Cindy and Katrina gasped, while Hilde and Catherine just looked at each other gravely. "I knew," Catherine said, nodding slightly. "Anne never told us the name of the man, but she contacted us about what had happened to Mariemeia. Meia came to stay with Trowa and I in the circus, actually. This was a year after Trowa went into hiding – Anne didn't know he was here." 

"I knew his name," Hilde growled, "but we were told that he was killed in a bar fight shortly after. If I had known he was still alive…" 

"Trieze?" 

The unnaturally hesitant tone in Sandra's voice made everyone look at her. "Sandra?" Cindy reached over and put her hand on the other girl's arm. Sandra looked deathly pale. "Sandra, what is it?" 

"Where –" she swallowed hard – "where was McTash stationed, when he was with Quietus?" 

Trieze frowned. "He moved around a lot. You'd have to be more specific." 

"Specifically…twenty years ago." 

Trieze flipped through his memory, knowing he had the details somewhere…"Here," he said suddenly. "Spain. Barcelona, to be exact. He was acting as a guard for a scientist – I was never told her name – while he attempted to find out what some top secret project of hers was. I wasn't supervising the mission, however, so I'm not clear on the details." 

Sandra nodded absently, tapping her fingers on the table as she appeared to go into deep thought. Patiently, the others waited for her to speak again. 

"I need to call Kenji," Sandra said suddenly. "Hilde – did you get a number for them?" 

"Yes." 

"Good." She stood up and walked over to the telephone. 

"Sandra?" Cindy frowned at her. "What's going on?" 

"You all go on to space without me," Sandra said as she took the paper that Hilde had copied the number down on. "I'll trust you to get _her to Spain for me…I'll e-mail you details once I get there." _

"Spain?!" 

She nodded. "There are a few things I have to check out." Her eyes lit up suddenly, indicating that the call had been received. "Kenji – it's Sandra. Fine. Yes. I need a favor." Pause. "I need transport to Barcelona, Spain. ASAP. Can you get Rasheed to figure something out for me?" Another pause. "Thanks. Hai. Ja ne." She hung up the phone, and turned back to the others. 

"_What's going on, Sandra?" Cindy demanded. _

"I'm not sure," Sandra said, shaking her head, "or else I'd tell you. But I think I know where McTash is taking Mariemeia." She turned to Trieze and snapped him a quick salute. "Request permission to handle Mariemeia's disappearance myself, sir." 

Trieze raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "I understand, Sandra," he said. "Do you need assistance?" 

"No, sir," was the reply. "Kenji said that Rasheed will call back with details on my trip tonight…I'll leave as soon as I can. But thank you." 

"Sandra, are you _sure you can't tell us what's going on?" Catherine asked. _

"Positive." Sandra tucked a lock of curls behind her ear and frowned. "You've got more important things to worry about, in the meantime. Such as, what are you going to tell Isaac when you meet up with him?"

Cindy, Trieze, Katrina, and Hilde looked at each other, none of them obviously wanting to think about that. 

Trieze Isaac Kushrenada was _not going to be happy. _


	13. Return to Peacemillion 2

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Thirteen: Return to Peacemillion 2**

Meila stepped up from the back of the shuttle and slid in the co-pilot's chair. They'd been drifting on auto-pilot for the last hour or so, both she and Isaac catching up on some well-needed rest. After reporting in to Kenji one more time, they'd shut down communications and gone into radar silence as they'd entered Mars space. They would remain that way until they came into sight of Peacemillion 2. 

"It should be around here somewhere," she murmured to herself as she looked at the dead control panels in front of her. She hated radar silence – a complete shutdown of _anything_ that could be picked up by _any_ sort of radar. But in Mars space it was necessary – they'd never been able to confirm if the Quietus base had been completely destroyed or not. 

"Isaac?" She looked over at her fiancé, and saw that he was curled up in the pilot's seat, his long red hair curling damply around his face from the space helmet he'd worn until they'd left Colony space. His eyes were closed, and his breathing regular as he slept. 

Only the shifting of his eyes visible underneath his closed lids showed that his sleep wasn't as calm as it seemed at first glance. 

*****

_"Yo, Trieze! You coming to the arcade with us?" _

_Fourteen-year-old Trieze Isaac Kushrenada turned and shook his head. "Can't, Erek. I've got a few things I need to pick up from the store for Mom. She's been after me to get to the store all week." _

_His best friend looked sympathetic, and shrugged. "Okay, sorry, man. I'll just tell Rebecca that you won't be by today."_

_"I'll try to catch up after I finish," Trieze promised. He turned around and waved over his shoulder. "See ya!" _

_The store, fortunately, wasn't too far from the school that he'd attended since kindergarten, and his mom was very good making detailed lists. Sometimes a bit too detailed – this one was about three pages long, so something told him that despite his best efforts, he'd get done in time only for dinner, and not much else. _

_It'd been a long day, and about all he was interested in doing now was finishing his shopping, and going home for dinner and a nice, long nap. He had a test the next day that he needed to study for, but he'd get up early in the morning to deal with that. _

_He pushed open the door, paying no attention to the CLOSED sign on the door. _

_And found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. _

_"Whoa."_

_"All right, kid, get in here and shut up," a rough voice growled, grabbing him by his collar and pulling him into the store. Trieze stumbled forward and noticed that the store clerks and cashiers were lined up against one wall, bound and gagged and looking positively scared out of their minds. _

_It did not occur to him that this was not a situation he should be getting involved in. _

_Without thinking, he grabbed the wrist holding him and twisted it sharply, hooking his leg around his captor's and throwing him off balance. A quick smack to the wrist, and the gun fell harmlessly out of the man's hand and into his own. He spun around and aimed at the man's partner, who had just come out of the back room. "Don't move," he said. "Drop the gun." _

_The two of them stared at each other, neither of them moving and inch. Trieze kept his confiscated weapon focused, and the man kept his hand near where his own gun was. _

_There was a sound from behind him, and Trieze glanced over to see the other robber climbing to his feet. The second man took the opportunity to draw his gun…_

_…gunshots…_

_…screaming…_

_…and the sirens…_

_…always a blur at this point, never remember coherently…_

_…a trial, testifying…_

_"…Witness Protection…best thing…no contact…Isaac O'Rielly…"_

_…Isaac…_

_…Isaac…_

*****

"Isaac!" 

"Wha --?" He sat up suddenly, startled out his sleep to look over at Meila. "Mei?"

"You were having a nightmare or something," Meila said, biting her lip. "I was worried."

He groggily tried to remember the dream, but as always, everything past the gun was a blur. Just random words and instances. Even when he was awake, his memory of the aftermath was faint. He'd worked hard to bury his past, and it wasn't easy to dredge it back up. "I'm fine," he said, in a way that indicated he was _not_ fine. 

"Was it…?"

"Yeah."

Meila knew only bits and pieces of the story, and a lot of it wasn't from what Isaac had told her. She'd asked Mariemeia and Dorothy about it once, and they'd given her _some_ information, but not enough to form a coherent image in her head. All she knew for certain was that Isaac didn't like talking about what had sent him into the Witness Protection Program, and sometimes he joked that considering what happened afterwards, the cause wasn't really all that important. 

"Isaac…" 

"Meila, don't." She blinked, startled at his abrupt tone. "Just don't. We've got more important things to deal with right now that my screwed-up psyche, okay? I don't need to be analyzed right now or anything." 

"Sorry," she whispered, a hurt tone creeping into her voice. 

Immediately, Isaac was apologetic. "Oh, Mei…I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just…there's a lot going on right now. I'm worried about my mother, about our friends, about Quatre and the others…I just have a lot on my mind." He took a deep breath, and she reached over and took his hand. He squeezed it gently. "Thanks." 

"I'm serious, though," she said after a moment. "If you want…or need…to talk, I'm here." 

"I know." He smiled at her, then leaned over and kissed her softly. Then another kiss, leading into another, and another…

…until the control board suddenly flared to life, and a message crackled over the intercom system. 

"_This is the Peacemillion 2. State your identity and purpose._" 

Isaac groaned and pulled away from Meila. "Perfect timing," he grumbled. 

"Later, Isaac," Meila said, smiling. "Let's just do what we came here to do." 

"Right." He queued up the radio. "Peacemillion 2, this is the _Dynasty_. Registration code 21-91-8. Request permission to board." 

There was a burst of a static, and then a reply. "Dynasty_, permission denied. Only authorized personnel are allowed to board. Do you have a specific reason?" _

"Let me." Meila leaned forward. "Here's our reason, Peacemillion 2: You have something that belongs to use in your cargo hold. We're here to pick them up. If the Foreign Minister could give permission, she would – but right now she's a little busy." 

There was another burst of static. "_Code?" _

Isaac and Meila glanced at each other. "There's a code?" whispered Isaac. 

"Shit," Meila said. 

"_Do you have the codes?_" 

Quickly Meila thought through what Relena might have told the crew to expect. Then her eyes lit up. "Lotus," she said suddenly. "And Sparticus." 

Isaac raised his eyebrows. 

There was a moment of silence…and then, "Permission granted. Welcome aboard." 

The Peacemillion 2 suddenly emerged from behind a very large asteroid, gleaming white and huge. It had been five years since Isaac and Meila had laid eyes on her, and she still looked as brilliant as she had when she'd first left Earth for Mars. 

And somewhere inside her were the cause of this entire mess, the biggest secrets mankind had ever kept. Thirteen weapons that, according to the law, shouldn't exist. And now they were needed again, to stop the law from being abused and misused. 

"Do you really think this is going to work?" Meila asked as the P2's tractor beams locked onto the shuttle and began pulling it towards the entry bay. 

"It has to," Isaac replied. "The Neo-Gundams are our last hope. If we can't get the proof we need from their memory banks, I don't know where else to look."

"Maybe if we're lucky, Trente and the others have some information."  

"Maybe if we're lucky, the Earth Sphere will drop all charges and Quietus will disappear off the face of the Earth."

"Must you always be so pessimistic?"

"It keeps me from getting my hopes to high." 

Meila leaned over and hugged him. "Just don't overthink," she advised. "Right now, let's just concentrate on the Neo-Gundams. Okay?"

He rested his chin on the top of her head, hugging her back. "Okay," he said softly. "You're right. Besides, we've probably got the easiest job of all of us right now." 

_But if that's the case…why do I have such a bad feeling? Why do I feel like everything is going to blow up in our faces…and very soon? _

"The sooner we get done here and back to Earth," he added, "the better."__


	14. Sandra

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Fourteen: Sandra**

It's been years since I've thought about my past. My life before I became a Gundam pilot, I mean. Not that it wasn't a happy past…I was your typical kid. I had a mother who loved me, lots of a friends, and I lived in a safe town. 

Then my mother died. 

The doctors said is was cancer, that it was inevitable that she would. I remember thinking that if she had just stayed home more often, that if she hadn't spent so much time on that pet project of hers, then she'd be fine. She would've lived. I know now that's not realistic, but that's the way I felt then. I decided I hated my mother's project, and I didn't even know what it was. 

Then my aunt told me that my mother had chosen me to be the pilot of her project, and that I was the only one who could. The next thing I knew, I was on a shuttle on my way to the Winner Colony in L4, where I would finally see what my mother had spent her last months working on: Neo-Gundam Atlantica.

The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew why Mama had been so determined to get her finished before she died. I realized that she had held on just for the completion of Atlantica. And even though I kind of resented that, I could see why she had. 

It was a couple months after the attack on Quietus' Mars base that I also realized another reason she had held on. I was doing a check-up on Atlantica – this was before Neo-OZ had disbanded into the Preventers, when Quatre was still making sure that Quietus was gone completely. It was during this check-up that I discovered a recording that my mother had installed a week before she died. 

It was in this recording that I first heard the name Cyrus McTash. 

My mother had worked for the Preventers when she was younger, in their science department, before branching off into the solo field. While there, she'd been working on some sort of project that put her in the public spotlight, so she'd been given a bodyguard. 

To make a long story short, her bodyguard raped her, and then stalked her. Mama didn't go into the details…I'm glad…but she did say that after a couple of weeks she'd departed from the Preventers' service, and took up with a small lab in Spain. 

Nine months later, I was born.

Cyrus McTash, a name that really meant nothing to me until a few hours ago, is my father. 

But that's not important. 

What's important is that in the recording, my mother mentioned that some time after she left the Preventers, McTash showed up at her lab in Spain, working security. Since she had never reported the rape, there was nothing she could do, but she made it a point to keep an eye on him. And she discovered that he'd made some pretty expensive purchases. 

One of which was an old estate off the coast of Barcelona that he purchased under the name Cyrus Barton. 

Perverted, huh? 

But it makes sense, now. 

I just hope I'm right. Otherwise, Mariemeia could be in big trouble. And Isaac will _never_ forgive me if something happened to her. 


	15. Dark Times

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Fifteen: Dark Times**

"We've got a problem."

Kenji and Trente looked up as Noir entered the room, his expression unusually serious. "What's wrong?" Kenji asked his brother, immediately picking up on his mood. 

Noir handed Kenji a folder, and waited while Kenji flipped through it.

Kenji frowned as he went through the papers. "These are personnel sheets," he said after a couple of minutes. 

"I got them from Rasheed," Noir replied. "They're known Quietus operatives that the Maguanacs identified. Most of them haven't been seen since the incident five years ago, leading me to assume that they died at the base." 

Trente nodded and turned back to his computer. "The others, we can cross-reference for knowledge in computers, see if anything in their backgrounds would allow Claire to be able to infiltrate the way she did."

"Yeah, we can do that," Noir agreed. "But that wasn't what the problem was."

Kenji closed the folder and handed it back to him. "I give up. What's the problem?"

"This." Noir pulled out a couple of sheets and handed them all to Kenji. "The Campbells. Mother, father, son. Each of them were known operatives of Quietus. Each of them died at the base five years ago." 

"And?" There had to be more to this than just that to get Noir worked up.

"And, one of the detectives originally working the case against our parents is named Campbell. _Lyssa_ Campbell."

Trente looked up, his eyes narrowed. "You think there's a compromise?"

"It wouldn't surprise me in the least," Noir replied. "Both Campbell and her partner, Parker Reese, asked to be taken off the case, and they were subsequently replaced – on Campbell's recommendation. Fifty bucks says that the guys who replaced them were also Quietus operatives."

"But Lyssa isn't listed on the personnel lists," Kenji said, frowning. 

"It's possible the Maguanacs missed her," Trente said. "It'll be easy enough to check up, and we'll have to – there's no guarantee she's even related to these other three. But if she is –"

"It gives her plenty of motive to try and stonewall the case," Noir replied. "I'm thinking about doing a little check on our parents, see how they're being treated." 

"You won't get within fifty feet of them," Kenji answered, shaking his head. "It's official – we're wanted now. Our faces are plastered across every television screen on the planet. No arrests yet, so the others are still out there, but I'd rather _not _tempt fate right now." 

"I'll go undercover," Noir promised. "I'll have Rasheed fix me up with something – I'm good at it. How do you think I dodged Quietus all those years?"

Trente frowned. "I don't know…"

"Listen, you two are a hell of a lot more recognizable than I am," Noir said. "I'm just 'some guy who looks like Duo Maxwell'. I'll take the proper precautions. I'd just feel better if I were closer to where the action is."

Kenji had turned back to his own computer by then, and suddenly frowned. "You might be right, Noir," he said. "Check out what just came over the lines." He moved away so that Noir could see.  

Noir leaned forward to read the media report that Kenji had just stumbled upon. "What the fuck?!" he demanded angrily as he finished.

"What is it?" Trente asked.

"Mariemeia's been kidnapped!" Noir stared at the computer screen, incensed. "And they're trying to make it seem like she got someone to break her out of jail – which makes _no_ sense. She'd never do something like that!" He narrowed his eyes. "That's it. I'm going. And neither of you are going to stop me."

Trente exchanged looks with Kenji, and nodded. "In light of this, it might be good to find out exactly what's going on. You can get in touch with Aurora."

"Who?" 

"My cousin. She's lead counsel for our parents." Trente checked something on a sheet of paper, then handed it to Noir. "This is her cell phone number. It's secure." 

"It better be." Noir quickly committed the number to memory, then tore up the paper and threw it in the trash. "You two keep trying to find Claire. And if Isaac happens to call…"

"_Don't_ tell him about his mother," Kenji finished. "Do we look like idiots?" 

Noir just grinned, then hurried out of the room, the door closing behind him. 

Kenji turned to Trente. "_Are _we idiots?" he asked. "He could be walking right into a trap."

"I think we're going to have to trust that he can take care of himself," Trente replied. He looked at the computer in front of him and scowled. "I have to admit, though, that I feel kind of selfish, sitting here safe in the Maguanac base while our friends are risking their lives. Cindy and Sandra are MIA, and Isaac and Meila are off in space. Now Noir is on his way to the Sanq Kingdom, possibly the last place he should be given the fact that he's now wanted by the Earth Sphere.

"But at the same time, we've got to find Claire, and I know you and I are the best ones for the job." Trente sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm so confused I don't know what to think anymore."

"Well, while we're running checks for any sign of her, we should probably look into this Campbell connection Noir brought up," Kenji said. "It shouldn't be too much trouble to see if those three who died on Mars are related to the detective on the case." He hunched over the keyboard of the computer and began typing, his fingers flying in an intricate dance as they entered the correct commands. He easily bypassed security into the Sanq Kingdom's police records, and soon had Lyssa Campbell's file pulled up on screen. "Uh, oh."

"Nani?" 

Kenji looked grim. "There _is a connection. The Campbells with Quietus were Lyssa Campbell's parents and older brother." _

"Lovely," muttered Trente. "So it's a conspiracy in every corner, then." 

"Hard to tell," Kenji replied. "She's got a clean record, at least with the police department. And she hasn't popped up in the Maguanac's Quietus database, either. We can't be sure she knows of what her family was doing."

"We can't be sure she _didn't_ know, either," Trente pointed out. "Can we find out what she's been doing since she was taken off the case?" 

Kenji nodded and typed in a few keys. "Says here that she took some personal days and went out of the country. Some place in…Spain, it looks like."

"How long will she be out of the country?" Trente asked.

"She's taken time off for a good two or three weeks," Kenji replied. "Give me an hour and I can have her entire traveling history – where she's staying, where she's shopping, where she's eating, ecetera ecetera."

"Go for it," Trente replied. "Meanwhile, I'll continue the search for Claire. I have a couple of ideas that could get us somewhere." 

*****

"_Now boarding shuttle 550 bound for L5-X8X50. Please have your tickets in hand as you prepare to board._"

"That's us," Hilde said, checking the piece of paper in her hand. She looked at Catherine. "Thanks for helping us." 

"Anytime," Catherine said, smiling. "Now come on. The rest of the circus has already boarded." 

"We owe you," Cindy said. 

Catherine had managed to convince the circus manager to cancel the rest of their tour on Earth and move up their shows in the L5 cluster. She'd had to tell him the reason, but fortunately the current manager was the son of the previous manager, and was one of the Gundam pilots' supporters. It hadn't taken much to convince him and set up the tour. There was only one slight adjustment that really needed to be made – the addition of Treize, Hilde, Katrina, Cindy, and Yoshi on the roster, under assumed names. 

This worked out well for the refugees, since by traveling with the circus they didn't need to provide photo i.d. – it had all been taken care of. All they had to do was walk onto the shuttle and pray that no one would get a good look at their faces. Once on the shuttle, it was all circus folk, and they, like the manager and Catherine, were fiercely loyal to the Gundam pilots.

They boarded the shuttle without any problems, and immediately went to the back where their seats were. Each of them had one carry-on apiece, just enough to make it look like they were just normal travelers, but it wasn't until they were firmly seated and the shuttle had taken off that they allowed themselves to release the breaths they had all been holding. 

"Okay, that was the easy part," Hilde said after they'd gotten settled. "The hard part is going to be when we land on L5. We have to be able to get from the shuttle port to the Fuangs' without anyone picking up our trail. I'd like it if we could get a car, but renting one may be a problem."

"I could do it," Katrina said. 

Everyone looked at her. 

"No, seriously," she said. "_My face isn't plastered all over television right now."_

"But you're Relena's daughter," Treize said. "You're recognizable."

"We could fix that," Catherine said. She touched Katrina's long dark blonde hair. "A quick trim and dye-job will make her look less like her mother." 

Katrina touched her hair. "Cut my hair?" she asked, uncertainty in her voice. 

"We can do it right on the shuttle," Catherine assured her. "And it won't be anything drastic – just enough to make people not recognize you right away."

Katrina bit her lip. "Well…I guess…"

"Great!" Catherine stood from her seat and motioned for Katrina to follow her. "We'll be right back," she told the others. 

Cindy stared after them, blinking. "I can't believe Katrina actually agreed," she said. "She's always saying that her hair is her best feature." 

"She's changing," Hilde said, more to herself than anyone else. 

True to Catherine's word, Katrina was back in less than half an hour. Her honey-blond hair had been dyed a dark auburn color, and had been cut to about half its original length, so that it now stopped at her shoulders. The new cut actually did a lot for her, in Cindy's opinion, and she noticed that Katrina actually seemed extremely pleased with it. 

"Does it look okay?" she asked, a little self-conscious.

Treize smiled at her. "It looks fine. It becomes you very nicely." 

She smiled. "Thanks. I've always wanted to have short hair." 

"I didn't know that," Cindy said, surprised.

Katrina shrugged. "You never bothered to ask." 

Cindy puzzled over that statement. It was true that she'd never tried to get caught in a conversation with Katrina if she could help, but that was because she'd felt that her cousin was a self-absorbed spoiled brat. In the past few days, however, she'd noticed a few changes in Katrina that she hadn't been aware of before. Was it possible that her initial impression of her cousin was wrong? Or could it just be that Katrina was finally beginning to grow up? 

Suddenly she realized that she was being spoken to. "Sorry, Hilde – I didn't quite catch what you said." 

"I asked if you knew the Fuangs' telephone number," Hilde said. "It might be a good idea to call them so that we don't completely surprise them."

Cindy nodded. "I know it. I'll call if you want."

A cell phone was handed to her, and she obediently dialed the number. 

The phone rang. 

And rang. 

And rang. 

Cindy let it ring for almost ten minutes before she finally hung up the phone. "No answer," she said, frowning. 

"Maybe they just aren't home," Katrina suggested.

"Not with what's going on," Cindy said, shaking her head. "I've met Meila's family once or twice – right now, they'd be sitting next to the telephone, waiting for some word from their daughter or anyone connected to them." She glanced at a nearby clock. "How much longer until we reach the colony?"

"An hour," Treize replied. 

Cindy bit her lip. _I hope that's enough time. _

*****

An hour and a half later, a silver car pulled up outside a one-story Chinese-style house on L5. The lights were off inside, and the occupants of the car approached the house cautiously. Cindy had tried calling several more times, but there hadn't been an answer. 

The passenger side door opened, and Cindy was out in an instant, moving up the front walk to the door with ease. Her hand was at her side, where she'd hidden her gun. She glanced back at Hilde, who was right behind her. Treize and Katrina were back at the car with Yoshi. 

Cindy knocked lightly on the door. "Hello?" she whispered. "Mr. Fuang?" 

There was no answer. 

A sinking feeling in her stomach, Cindy stepped back and kicked at the doorknob, jarring the lock with precision ease the way Noir had taught her to years earlier. "Back me up," she said to Hilde, shouldering the door open and pulling her gun out smoothly as she stepped inside.

She didn't have to go very far before she figured out what had happened. 

"Oh, god," Cindy breathed, forcing herself not to faint. The scent of blood was plain – as was the mangled body lying in the hall. 

"Who --?" Hilde drew in a sharp breath.

Cindy swallowed hard and moved forward, kneeling next to the young woman, moving her just enough to see her face. "Gin Yung," she said after a moment, feeling sick. "Meila's older sister." 

"Quietus?"

Cindy looked over Gin – the body. There were slash marks up and down, her blood staining the carpet beneath. It hadn't been an easy death. She'd bled out. "Carving," she said quietly. "Most likely by a Cyborg blade. Those things are unbelievably sharp. Get the wound clean and you won't even see a slash, but you'll bleed. God, you'll bleed."

"You learned this on Mars?"

Cindy nodded. "Stay here," she said. "I'm going to look for the rest of the family."

Hilde's eyes widened, and she nodded. 

"And get Treize and the others in here. I don't want to leave them out there unguarded." 

"All right."

Cindy barely heard her as she moved out of the hall and into the living room. The room was empty. Not a thing was out of place. It was still – almost too still. The shades were drawn, the lights off. Beyond it was the kitchen. Gun held steady, she moved in that direction, praying that the drip she heard was water…and somehow knowing it wasn't. 

It must've been breakfast, because the remains of the meal was cold on the plates. Mr. and Mrs. Fuang hadn't even had a chance, although it looked like Meila's brother – Cindy couldn't remember his name – had tried to fight back. What was left of his hand had a knife in it. The attack had been swift, ruthless, and painful. 

"Cindy?"

Cindy jumped and spun around, pointing the gun straight at Treize. He calmly reached out and pushed the weapon down. "No need," he said quietly. "It's empty. There isn't anyone else."

"Are you sure?"

He tapped the side of his head. "I can pick up other Cyborg transmissions," he said. 

"Oh, right." It was very easy to forget that Treize was a Cyborg. He didn't flaunt his abilities like so much of Quietus had. She bit her lip. "How could this have happened? What am I going to tell Meila?" 

But Treize didn't seem to be thinking about his future granddaughter-in-law. He was silently staring at the table. Cindy didn't know how he could do that without reacting to what else was at the table. "Treize?"

"Count the settings, Cindy."

Cindy steeled herself and turned, silently counting. "One, two, three – Mr. and Mrs. Fuang, and Meila's brother," she murmured. "Four, that's Gin…five, six." She frowned. "Who…?"

And then she paled. "No. They wouldn't." 

"They would."

The two of them turned to see a very pale Hilde, holding a note. "It was on the inside of the door," she said, handing it to Treize. 

Treize looked down at it. 

_Neo-OZ, _

_      We have the children. Surrender or they die. _

_                  Q_

Katrina bit her lip from behind Hilde. "What children?" she asked softly.

Cindy struggled to maintain her temper. "The Fuangs were watching Wufei and Sally's daughter," she said quietly, her voice laced with fury, "and Duo and Heero's son. Quietus has Lotus and Race." 

*****

Quatre waited patiently with his friends in the conference room. He glanced up at the clock. "It's not like Aurora to be late," he said. 

"She's only half an hour, Cat," Duo said, a comforting hand on the Sandrock pilot's shoulder. 

"Maybe she has new information," Sally added, holding Wufei's hand tightly. 

At that moment, the door opened, and Aurora walked in with a young man trailing behind him. He wore a long black trench coat, and a black cap pulled low over his face. "Sorry to keep you all waiting," she said, smiling apologetically at him. "I had to take care of a few last minute things." She nodded to the door, and the guard closed it. "All right. Closed communication. Total privacy." 

"Who's your friend?" Heero asked. 

Her companion pulled off the cap, and cobalt blue eyes met his from under raven-black hair. "Hiya, Dad." 

Heero and Duo nearly had heart attacks. "_Noir?!" _

"In the flesh," Noir said, grinning. "Actually, I'm going by Dee for now. They've got my face plastered all over television – I had to do a few changes. The hair and eyes had to go."

"He showed up at my hotel room shortly before I left to come here," Aurora replied. "Had credentials showing him to be a partner with my firm. I have to give him credit – he's good." 

Noir shrugged. "Kenji threw it together last minute. I'm just glad it worked." 

"What _are _you doing here?!" Duo demanded, glaring at a face almost identical to his. "You're on the wanted list now, too!" 

"No, really?" Noir rolled his eyes. "I'm well aware of that, Pops. I'm here to check out the main scene, and with any luck, find out what happened to Mariemeia. Also, to fill you all in while I have to chance."

"Fill us in?" Dorothy asked questioningly. 

Noir nodded, and sat down at the table. "Yeah, with what we've been up to. Aurora assures me this place is soundproof, so I'll use what time I have to update you.

"The best I know at this point is, we've split into three groups. Cindy and Sandra are on the run with Treize and Hilde, and are probably trying to head for the colonies. We've had almost zero contact with them. Meila and Isaac departed from L5 a few days ago, intending on intercepting Peacemillion 2 on its way back from Mars. We got a message from them saying that they'd made contact with the ship, but there hadn't been anything else by the time I left Maguanac base, where, by the way, Trente and Kenji are locked up running computer searches and doing God knows what else." 

Quatre blinked. "Wait. Trente and Kenji?"

"Yeah," Noir nodded. "Oh, you didn't hear about that? Turns out someone was working pretty damn hard at keeping those two apart – someone we're all familiar with: Claire Winner." 

Trowa clenched his fist. "I knew she had something to do with this."

"Do you have any proof?" Relena wanted to know.

Noir shook his head. "If we did, you wouldn't still be here. That's what Trente and Kenji are trying to do – get information on Claire's whereabouts, and how she managed to pull this off. Right now we're looking into the theory that your case has been badly handled from the get-go – one of the detectives initially assigned to your cases appears to have connections to Quietus in the form of parents and a brother." 

"Which one?" Aurora interrupted, eyes wide. 

"Lyssa Campbell," Noir said. "We don't know for sure, but we should have some more details on that soon. If we can show evidence to a conspiracy, we may be able to move some of this in our favor." 

"I see," murmured Quatre. Then he frowned. "Noir? What are Meila and Isaac doing on Peacemillion 2?" 

Noir hesitated. 

"Noir," Heero said, frowning. 

"Well, what do you _think_ they're doing there?" Noir asked. "There's only one reason for any of us to be on Peacemillion 2 right now – the data recorders installed in the Neo-Gundams."  

"What?!" The reaction was instantaneous, and also expected. Noir raised his hands to ask for silence. He grudgingly got it. 

"We're not planning on bringing the Neo-Gundams _back," he said. "If it's possible, Isaac and Meila are just going to copy the data. With any luck, it'll be enough to at least make people doubt your guilt." _

"There's no guilt to doubt," Wufei said. "The fact is, we _are guilty for what they say we did. Operated weapons of war during a time of peace, and those of us in the Eve Wars broke a hundred rules of combat a piece – not all of them the same rules. What needs to come out is that we meant no harm to the citizens…that we were, in fact, trying to protect Earth." _

Aurora nodded. "And believe me, we're doing everything in our power to make people understand that. But unless we get hardcore proof – and a confession or two – that won't be easy." 

Relena pressed her hand against her forehead. "None of us figured this was going to be –" She was cut off by the sound of a cell phone ringing. 

Noir immediately dug into his pocket. "Sorry," he said as he pulled out his phone. He flipped it open and accepted the call. "Dee here. Talk to me."

Trowa looked at Duo. "You taught him to answer the phone, didn't you?" 

Duo looked sheepish. 

"WHAT?!" Noir's shout startled all of them. "What the hell do you mean, _he's gone? _Who? When? How…you're kidding. Oh, god…Kenji, calm down. _Calm down. No, stay where you are. I'll handle it. Kenji…Kenji. __Kenji. Look, put Trente on, will you? Okay. Fine. Yes, I'll tell them. No, no TV. Yeah, I expect they're putting their own spin on it. Quietus has way too many snakes. Okay. I'll call you back. Bye." He hung up and looked at them, fury in his eyes. ___

"What is it?" Sally asked worriedly. 

"What's wrong with Kenji?" Heero demanded.

"Nothing's wrong with Kenji," Noir said tightly. "But he finally got into contact with Cindy…she was able to track him down when she got to L5."

"L5?" Wufei asked quizzically.  "What's she doing there?"

"She, Sandra, Katrina, Treize and Hilde left the Sanq Kingdom to try and get refuge with Trowa's sister, Catherine," Aurora replied. "I was under the impression that they were staying on Earth."

"Situations change," Noir said. "They ended up traveling to L5 to take refuge with Meila's family." He pulled out a chair at the table and sat in it, leaning forward to rest his head on his arms. "God, how are we going to tell her?" 

"What is it, Noir?" Duo asked, putting a hand on his son's arm. 

Noir took a deep breath, and sat up. "Quietus found the Fuangs," he said quietly. "By the time Cindy and the others got there…well, Cyborgs are good at what they do." 

It took a moment for Noir's words to sink in. 

Quatre went pale. "You mean…the whole family?"

Noir nodded. "Meila's mother, father, siblings, grandfather…all dead. Murdered while they ate their breakfast."

"Oh, god," whispered Sally. Her eyes widened, and she clutched Wufei's arm. "Wufei…Lotus! We left Lotus with them!" 

Wufei looked at Noir. 

"They took her," Noir said quietly. 

"Quietus has my daughter?"

Noir nodded.

"K'SO!" Wufei slammed his fist down angrily on the table. 

"That's not all," Noir said dismally. He looked over at his parents.

"What?" Heero asked.

"Kenji and I…we couldn't keep him with us, it was too dangerous," Noir said dully. "We didn't think Quietus would go to L5, it being too far from Mars…" 

"What are you talking about?" Relena asked.

A lone tear rolled out of Noir's eye. "Dad, Pops…we sent Race to stay with the Fuangs. 

"Quietus has him, too." 


	16. Sneak Attack

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 224**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter 16: Sneak Attack**

_Drip, drip. Drip, drip._

The soft sounds of water falling from…_somewhere_…slowly roused Mariemeia from her dreamless sleep. The first thing she was aware of was that there was a pounding in her head that could only have come from whatever had made her fall unconscious in the first place. The second thing she was aware of was that wherever she was, it was dark, and there was an unpleasant draft coming from somewhere to her right. Turning her head to try and get some bearing, she was startled to find that there was no difference in light at all…and then she realized that she was blindfolded. 

When she tried to reach up to touch the blindfold, she discovered that she was tied to the chair she was sitting in. _Oh, this is great_, she thought sourly. _I have no idea where I am, and I'm tied up so I can't do anything. Think, Mariemeia…what's the last thing you remember?_

The jail cell…someone breaking in, talking to her…someone she knew…

"Awake, Sleeping Beauty?"

_Oh, God, no._

All at once, it came back to her. "Cyrus!" she hissed, turning her head in the direction the voice came from.

Cyrus chuckled. "Glad to see I didn't damage anything in the pretty little head of yours."

"And here I was hoping it was all just a bad dream," Mariemeia said sarcastically. "After all, the thought that my stalker and _rapist_ would actually show up in my life again after he was supposedly _killed didn't even cross my mind."_

"Killed, hmm?" She could just picture the self-satisfied look on his face. "Is that the report?"

"I'm not stupid," Mariemeia said. "Our records showed that you were a member of Quietus…you were supposed to have died on the Mars Base." 

"Yeah, a lot of us supposedly died there," Cyrus agreed. "A lot of us didn't. Me included. You think I'd kick the bucket before seeing my little flower one more time."

"Don't make me sick," spat Mariemeia. "Let me go, Cyrus…because I guarantee that if my father or any of my friends gets a hold of you, there won't be anything _left to bring back."_

"Oh? Is that a threat?" The sound of footsteps moved closer, and a hand fell on Mariemeia's knee. She immediately tensed when she felt something cool and sharp – _a knife – slide down her cheek and neck, just enough pressure for her to feel it, but not enough to puncture the skin. "I don't respond well to threats."_

"Screw you, you egotistical, self-absorbed, deranged, son of a bitch!" 

All at once there was a stinging sensation as Cyrus' hand connected solidly with Mariemeia's face, throwing her head back slightly as she struggled not to cry out from pain. "Don't provoke me," Cyrus hissed. 

Mariemeia refused to react. When he removed his hand from her knee, she sighed inwardly with relief, but on the outside, still didn't give any reaction. Wufei would've been proud…he'd taught her how to keep her head in situations like this. 

She could hear Cyrus get up and move away, and then the sound of running water. "Where am I?" she demanded. "Where have you brought me?"

"Oh, just a little place that I had tucked away," was the response. "My home away from home, you could say. From before the Preventers." 

"I want to see it."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Thought you were smarter than that, Meia." She heard him pulled up a chair next to him, and then felt fingers in her hair. She forced herself not to cringe in revulsion. "See, there are things I don't want you to see…things you don't need to see. So you'll just have to be a good girl and be patient." 

"Is there any way I can convince you to take off the blindfold?" Mariemeia asked, making her voice sound a little desperate. "I…I don't like not being able to see, Cyrus. It scares me…" 

"Aww, poor flower." There were several layers of sarcasm loaded onto that statement. "I'm not falling for it, sweetie. See, I know you. You've been through a lot worse than this…I'm not just some Quietus lackey, Meia, I'm pretty high up on the food chain. For instance, I even know that the one known as Three in the Quietus Command…was the one known as Treize Kushrenada. That's right, Mariemeia Kushrenada." She could feel his breath on her cheek, and drew in a sharp breath. "I know your daddy's still alive. It'll only be a matter of time before we track him and the other rebels down. And you're the bait that sets the trap." 

Mariemeia's eyes widened behind the blindfold. 

"I've been meaning to get in touch with my son," Cyrus said casually, but she knew he was smirking, knowing that he had rattled her. He always had known which buttons to push. "Tell me, Meia…does he look like me? Hmm?" 

"Not a bit," Mariemeia spat, dropping the act she'd put on. "He looks a lot like his grandfather, though…has the sword skill to match. And if he knew you were still alive, he'd come after you himself." 

Cyrus smirked. "Oh, would he, now? I wager he'd have more important things on his mind…like comforting that little girlfriend of his. What's her name? Meila?" 

"How did you…?"

"Oh, it wasn't _hard…there are pictures of them all over the place – TV, newspapers…no one could figure out how Treize Kushrenada's grandson ended up getting engaged to a no-name from L5, but my, she's a pretty little thing, isn't she? I wouldn't mind finding out what he sees in her." _

Mariemeia dug her nails into the palms of her hands. "You leave Meila alone! Besides, you'll have to find them, first."

"Oh, I imagine they'll be coming to me eventually." There was the sound of something metal sliding out of something else – plastic, maybe? Mariemeia couldn't tell. "But I do hope the girl puts up more of a fight than her sister." 

Mariemeia stiffened. "What have you done?" 

"Oh…you'll find out soon enough." 

*****

"It's been a long time."

Neo-Gundam Sparticus stared down at its pilot, the silver armor gleaming even in the dark cargo hold. In the container beside it, Heatseeker sat dormant, and across the way stood Neo-Heavyarms and Neo-Altron, both as silent as the other Neo-Gundams. There were two other compartment sets, one on either side – the first containing MegaWing, Neo-Wing, Neo-Sandrock, and Neo-Deathscythe; the last housing Lotus, Atlantica, Shinigami, and Neo-Epyon. Although none of the Neo-Gundams had been used in the five years since the Quietus Conflict, they'd been kept in top shape by the technicians on Peacemillion 2. 

"Isaac, come here!" Meila's voice echoed from the next compartment. 

"Coming!" Isaac looked up again at Sparticus, and saluted it. "I'll come back in a bit, my friend, but there's something I have to take care of first." With one last glance at his mobile suit, he walked through the door separating the compartments. 

Meila was perched on the bridge in front of Atlantica's cockpit, which remained closed. "What's up?" Isaac asked, climbing the ladder up to the catwalk. 

Meila frowned. "We've got a problem – I can't believe neither of us thought of this." 

"What?"

"I think we're only going to be able to get data from Shinigami – which isn't going to be much use in making the others innocent – and MegaWing, which is tainted by the Zero System," Meila said. "I can't get into Atlantica."

"Why the hell not?" Isaac frowned. Then his eyes widened. "Aw, hell. The dependence!" 

Meila nodded and leaned against the railing. "Atlantica can only be operated by Sandra. This means we have about as much of a chance as getting in it as Quietus does." 

"Smart for keeping it out of the wrong hands, but terrible for the rest of us," Isaac grumbled. He frowned. "And the other two AIs…" 

"Like I said, MegaWing is tainted by the Zero System, and Shinigami doesn't have much on _our battles, only Noir." Meila thought for a moment. "Now, Neo-Sandrock has AI…"_

"But it's the prototype system," Isaac said. "Quatre would've had to physically turn it on, and I don't think he ever did. And it doesn't collect the same information the final model does. So that leaves us…" 

"With no options," Meila finished. The two of them looked at each other, feeling like their last hopes were going down the drain.

Then they both paused. "Unless…" Isaac murmured.

"…we take Atlantica…" Meila added. 

"…to Sandra!" they finished together. "But do we risk it?" Isaac wondered. 

"Do we have a choice?" 

Isaac opened his mouth to reply, and grabbed the railing as Peacemillion 2 started to shake. "What the hell?!" 

"What was that?" Meila gasped at the same time.

They looked at each other, and then Isaac grabbed the receiver for one of the on-ship communicators, and called up to the bridge. "What's going on?" he demanded once the other end had been picked up.

"_We're being attacked by an unknown aggressor," _came the reply. "_They seem to be attacking us with __Mobile_ Suits!_" _

Isaac's eyes widened, and he clenched his fist. _Quietus, no doubt. _"Leave it to us," he said. "Prepare the cargo hold doors for opening." 

"_Sir!_" 

Isaac hung up and looked at Meila. "Mobile Suit attack," he said briskly. "What do you say?" 

"Just the two of us?" Meila asked. 

Isaac nodded. "Peacemillion 2 is designed strictly for defense – but their defensive features, as state of the art as they are, won't hold up forever under Quietus' MS. Sparticus can help with defense…" 

"…and Lotus will take care of the MS," Meila finished. She nodded, and turned towards Lotus. "I just hope the old girl can take it…she hasn't been used in five years."

"We'll find out," Isaac said. He gave Meila a quick kiss, then ran off to the next compartment to start up Sparticus.

Inside the cockpit, Isaac was relieved to see that everything was pretty much the way he had left it. Granted, there was a good amount of dust, and he hoped none of the seals on the equipment had failed and allowed that dust to get into the controls, but all in all, Sparticus looked one hundred percent. He slid into the pilot's seat, and started the controls. The lights flared on inside the cockpit, and the screens flickered once, died, then came on for good. 

Meila's face appeared on one of the side screens. "Ready?" she asked. "Everything looks good over here."

"Here, too," Isaac replied. He patched in a com link through to the bridge. "Ready to open the cargo hold?"

"Yes, sir," one of the officers said. "But…we can't be held responsible for what you do. You know that, right?"

"Of course," Isaac said. "We're operating on our own, without orders. We take full responsibility. All you need to do is open the cargo hold." 

The officer nodded and saluted, and then the screen went dark.

A moment later, Sparticus and Lotus stepped out of the compartments they'd been secured in, and the cargo hold doors opened, revealing a sea of stars. 

And a few other things, too.

"Aw, hell!" Isaac shouted. "Cyclones!"   

Meila stared at the Mobile DOLLS incredulously. "I don't believe it," she exclaimed. "There shouldn't be any of these left!" 

"Well, it seems more than just a few disgruntled employees survived Mars," Isaac said grimly. He reached under the shield on Sparticus' arm and removed the beam saber tucked away there. "Peacemillion 2's going to have to handle the defense on its own…no way am I letting you fight those things by yourself." 

"I'm built for combat…" 

"Not this much." As Isaac spoke, the front line of Cyclones charged forward. Isaac nodded to Meila's image on the screen, and together they flew forward to meet the assault. 

Isaac lashed out with his beam saber, and found that his strike was met instantly by one of the Cyclones'. He spun and tried to catch it on the side, and found that attack was blocked, too. The Cyclone mimicked his move perfectly, caught Isaac off guard, and only Sparticus' thick armor stopped the swipe from cutting off its arm. 

"What the hell?" Isaac exclaimed. "Meila…" 

"I know!" she replied. "I'm having the same trouble…they know our moves before we make them!" She was cornered by three Cyclones, each of them blocking her attacks…her fire lasers were having no effect on them as they countered and blocked them with lasers of their own. 

Isaac almost missed the next attack, ducking and twisting as another Cyclone came at him with a downward thrust…one of Isaac's trademark moves. 

Meila looked over as Isaac let out a cry over their comlink, just in time to see the Cyclone's beam saber catch Sparticus in his sword arm, in the exact spot the previous attack had been. This time is almost severed the arm completely from the Gundam, rendering it useless. "Isaac, put up your shield and fall back!" she exclaimed. 

Isaac gritted his teeth as he reached over for the shield control…it wasn't easy, his arm had been jolted, it felt like it was on fire…and groaned. "I can't!" he exclaimed. "One of the components was jerked out of place…the shield's malfunctioned!" 

"Then get back into Peacemillion! I'll cover --!" Meila was cut off as she was ambushed by two more Cyclones, both of which slammed into her and threw Lotus off balance. Meila growled. "Back _off!_" She slammed her fist down on console, lighting up the power supply to the Giga Cannon. 

The Cyclones seemed to hesitate as the dragon's mouth on Lotus' chest began to glow, charging…then they began to do what they were named for.

The arms and legs pulled into the body, and large spikes appeared on the outside. And they began to spin, racing towards Lotus. 

"Meila!" Isaac shouted. 

Meila hit the button again…and gasped. 

MALFUNCTION. 

"SHIT!" She looked out the cockpit window at the oncoming Cyclones…she'd once seen a Mobile Suit get torn apart by just one…

The shots came from out of nowhere, twin lasers slicing into the closest Cyclone with precision shooting. The Cyclone was thrown off balance, and due to its speed, slammed into its closest friend, tearing it to pieces. The shrapnel from the attack damaged the remaining Cyclones enough that they had to stop for a minute…and a few more laser shots took them out, as well. 

"What was that?" Meila gasped. "Peacemillion 2 doesn't have attack capabilities." 

"It wasn't P2," Isaac replied, peering through the darkness of space. "Look, to the left! We've got company!" 

Meila looked in the direction he was pointing in, and blinked. "A shuttle?" 

It was, indeed, a shuttle. And on further look, it was a private shuttle…which explained the offensive weaponry. Meila brought up a check on the shuttle's signature. "It's from L5," she said uncertainly. "It's…it's one of my father's shuttles." 

Isaac frowned. "Your father?" He sent out a hail to the shuttle. "L5 Shuttle UU-465 – this is the Peacemillion 2," he said, not giving out Sparticus' identity. "Identify yourself. I repeat, this is…" 

"Enough with the dramatics, O'Reilly…or should I say, Kushrenada?" an amused voice came over the com system. 

Isaac blinked. "No way," he said, eyes wide. "_Cindy?_" 

"Cindy, is that really you?" Meila asked.

"No, I'm the ghost of Zechs Marquise," Cindy said dryly, "_yes_, it's me!" 

"What are you _doing here?" the two of them chorused. _

"It's a long story," Cindy replied. "Just get those things back into P2 before some _other shuttle wanders into the area and sees you…we need to talk." _

*****

After safely stowing Lotus and Sparticus in the hanger and leaving the repairs to the P2 technicians, Meila hurried to the shuttle hanger while Isaac was herded to the infirmary…he'd apparently damaged his arm during the attack. 

She reached the shuttle bay just as Cindy stepped out and removed her space helmet, shaking out her long blonde hair. "Am I ever glad to see you," Meila said, immediately walking over and giving the older girl a tight, relieved hug. "What have you been up to?" 

"Looking for you and Isaac, for starters," Cindy said. "We got to L5, hoping to find you – and find a safe place to drop off Yoshi – and while we were there, I got a call from Aurora Armina…one of Quatre's nieces, and the head attorney on the case. _She apparently ran into Noir, who told her and the others that you and Isaac were here, so she called me…and it's been one huge game of phone tag. So I left Treize and the others on L5 and borrowed one of your security shuttles to find you." _

"Well, I'm glad you're here," Meila said truthfully. "Isaac and I weren't expecting any sort of Quietus attack, let alone a Cyclone one…and you can help us get the Neo-Gundams back to Earth. Ne, do you know where Sandra is?" 

Cindy shook her head. "She went off on her own…where's Isaac?" 

"In the infirmary," Meila replied. "Why?" 

Cindy sighed and walked into the changing room, where she began to change into her regular clothes. "It's been hectic…"

"How so?" Meila asked, sitting on one of the benches in front of the lockers. 

Cindy pulled off the flight suit and reached for the shirt that Meila had brought her. She sighed. "Well…for starters, there was a break in at the prison Quatre and the others are being held." 

"You're kidding," Meila said, surprised. "Who in their right mind would break into a prison?" 

"That's just it," Cindy said. "Nobody knows who did it…demo, Meila...they're blaming it all on us. That we staged it to try and get Quatre and the others out." 

"Are they nuts?" Meila looked at her incredulously. "Why would they think that?"

"Because whoever did it took Mariemeia," Cindy replied. 

Meila blinked. That was the last thing she had expected. "Mariemeia?" she asked. "Who…why?" 

"No one knows," Cindy repeated. "But that's why I came to look for you guys…to tell Isaac." She bit her lip. "And to tell you something…" 

"What?" Meila asked. "It can't be much worse than what you just said about Mariemeia." 

Cindy looked away from her, pulling her shirt over her head. "Oh, I wouldn't say that…it's a lot worse, in fact…" 

*****

Isaac woke up to the sound of crying. He wasn't sure what he was doing in a bed in the infirmary…but his arm was in a cast, so he figured that he'd passed out while the doctor had been setting the broken bone in his arm. That would take him out of commission for awhile…but he wanted to find out what the crying was about.

"Mei…?" he asked groggily, seeing his fiancée sitting next to the bed, her head in her arms. "Hey…it's okay. I'm not dead or anything." 

She looked at him, pale, and he immediately regretted his words. "Hey, Mei…" 

"It's not you she's upset about," Cindy muttered from the other side of the bed. 

Isaac looked at her. "Nani?" Then he turned back to Meila. She didn't look relieved at all that he was okay…which meant it _was_ something else. "What's wrong, Mei?" he asked, putting his hand on top of hers. She held it tightly. 

"L-lotus…" she whispered. "Quietus has her…and Race…" 

Isaac's jaw dropped. "How the FUCK did that happen? How'd they get them away from your family?" 

Meila burst into fresh tears. 

Isaac looked at Cindy for an explanation. 

Cindy sighed. "The Fuangs…they're dead, Isaac," she said softly. "Quietus killed them." 

Isaac stared at her for a moment, and was tempted to accuse her of pulling a very sick joke…but he knew Cindy wouldn't do that. "Oh, dear, lord," he whispered, pale. "How did…why…?"

"We don't know," Cindy replied. "I'm thinking Quietus probably wants to use Race and Lotus as leverage against Duo, Heero, and Wufei." 

Isaac sat up and put his hand on Meila's shoulder. She shrugged it off, then stood up and walked out of the room. Concerned, he tried to get out of bed, but Cindy forced him to stay put. "Give her some time," she said. "And you need to recover. Peacemillion is on a course for Earth, and Quietus won't dare attack so close to the sensors there. We have time." 

"We can't just leave the kids…"

"We won't," Cindy replied. "But we need to regroup. We have to get the information the Neo-Gundams have to Aurora, and then we need to meet up with Sandra, Trente, Noir, and Kenji and find Race and Lotus. Treize is already trying to find a clue to their whereabouts though some of his contacts." 

Isaac breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, Grandpa's good at that," he said, nodding. "He'll get us a clue." 

"There's something else you need to know, Isaac," Cindy said. 

Isaac looked at her. "Don't tell me anyone else is dead. I don't think I could take that."

"Well…we don't know," Cindy said. "But it's all over the news; you'll see it once we get back in frequency range, so I should tell you first."

"Tell me what?" 

Cindy took a deep breath. "Your mother…she's been kidnapped." 

There was a pause as Isaac looked at her. 

Then he passed out. 

Cindy looked at him. "Well," she said. "At least he didn't freak out at me." 

*****

Noir sat at the computer, typing away at a rapid-fire pace. Parker stood behind him, looking over his shoulder. "What exactly are you looking for?" he asked. 

"Clues," Noir replied. "Something that indicates how Quietus got on L5 without sending off a bunch of alarms." 

"Anyone can get to the colonies," Parker replied. "Why would Quietus need anything secret, especially if no one knows about them?"

"Because we've got our own eyes and ears," Noir said. "Quon Fuang, Meila's father, scans every vessel moving in and out of the colony. If one of them is even the slightest bit suspicious, he locks it down – he runs the biggest trade company in the colony cluster, and owns the spaceport, too. The fact that he didn't lock anything down, and that he's now dead…that indicates that Quietus found an alternate way to get in."

"So you're trying to find it?" 

Noir nodded. 

"Does it matter now?"

"Yeah," Noir replied. "Because once I find it, I can figure out whether or not they left L5…whether or not Race and Lotus are still there."


	17. Claire

**Gundam MegaWing: After Colony 229**

**What Lies Within**

**Chapter Seventeen: Claire**

Trente looked over at Kenji, who was pacing back and forth across the length to the small room they occupied. "You're making me dizzy…cut it out," Trente complained. 

Kenji looked at him. "My little brother is missing," he said tightly. "And he's in the hands of murderers." 

"And pacing is going to help?" Trente raised an eyebrow at him. 

"What else can I do, trapped in this damned sardine can?" Kenji demanded. "We haven't uncovered _any_ new information in days, Trente – we're useless here! We should be out _there, with Noir and the others, helping them!" _

Trente sighed. He felt the same way, although he hadn't been quite as vocal as Kenji. "I know, I know." He stood up. "But Rasheed will never let us go…"

Kenji sighed. "You mean he won't let _you go," he muttered. "It's you he's worried about…he barely knows me." _

Trente scowled. "Let's _not go there," he said sharply. Kenji looked at him. Trente sighed. "I didn't mean it to sound that way…I'm as restless as you." He stood up and walked over to Kenji, slipping his arms around his waist and pulling him to him. _

Kenji rested his head on Trente's chest. "Then let's get out of here," he suggested. "We'll sneak out and meet up with the others." 

"Rasheed will kill us." 

"We're not kids anymore," Kenji said seriously. 

Trente looked at him. 

Then he nodded. "Okay. We'll leave tonight, then." 

Kenji grinned. "Really?" 

"Really." 

"Yes!" Kenji grabbed his laptop and began to download files onto it from the main computers they'd been using. 

"What are you doing?"

"Transferring data," Kenji replied. "This way we can continue to do what we've been doing, even from the road. With any luck, we'll…" His voice trailed off. "Trente…did you see this?" He pointed to a file that had just appeared on screen. 

Trente came over. "What's that?" he asked.

"One of our worms came back with some information," Kenji replied. "One of Claire's credit cards was used yesterday…on L4." 

Trente's eyes widened. "So the witch appears," he said. He looked at Kenji. "L4, then?" 

"If you can get the shuttle tickets."

"Not a problem." Trente grinned. "I still have about a half-dozen aliases I haven't even touched." 

Kenji raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah…I used to make them up for fun," Trente replied. "I'd think up a history, a career, an occupation, then put them into the system and everything." 

Kenji looked at him, eyebrow still raised. "You had a lot of time on your hands, didn't you?"

"Does it show?" Trente looked sheepish. "Well, at least it'll get us back into space." 

Kenji grinned and nodded, turning back to the laptop.

Trente returned to the reservations. _Just you wait, Claire, he thought. __We'll get you yet._


End file.
